


You Bake Me Crazy

by smoresies



Series: You Bake Me Crazy Universe [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: 77 chapters in and they aren't together SLOW BURN, Acting, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Anxiety, Attempted Sexual Assault, Baking, Beauty and the Beast, Cafe AU, Cheating, Child Abuse, College, Cooking, Depression, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Family, First Love, Fun times with friends, Growing Up, High School, Humor, Infidelity, Kakashi and Guy are great dads, Karate, M/M, Making Friends, Manipulation, Multi, Musical, Prom, Romance, Singing, Slash, Slow Burn, Teenage Drama, Underage Drinking, apple picking, barista, high school parties, horror chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2018-11-18 07:30:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 84
Words: 342,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11286570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoresies/pseuds/smoresies
Summary: Modern day GaaLee AUA 17 year old Lee decides to find a job to help Guy and Kakashi keep their dojo opened.Some love stories aren't direct, some are imperfect and some are a slow burn. But what can you do when you're just a teenager growing up?Not only is this story a coffee shop AU but a high school and college one too. It's the story of growing up. Not everything is perfect and happiness isn't something given freely, but something earned. And just sometimes you have to try a little harder to get there.I will reiterate again. Slow. Burn. This isn't a quick story on how Gaara and Lee met and lived happily ever after. Life gets in the way. GaaLee is the end result but it will take a while to get there. If you don't want to read about the road to recovery and the hardships of relationships with other people, I advise against this story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My third GaaLee Story! Yay!
> 
> Let me know how this one is so I know if it's worth it to continue!

"What do you mean the dojo will be closed?!" Lee cried and Guy sighed and sent a side-look to Kakashi.

"I know you're upset, Lee. We are too. But there's really no money coming in right now. We have to focus on our full time jobs." Lee gave them a thoughtful look.

"What if I get a job too? Then I can help!" He said excitedly and Guy laughed.

"Lee, you're only 17 years old. You don't need to be worrying about paying our bills. Enjoy school." Lee frowned at him.

"But dad, I am at the dojo all the time anyway. It is not like I do much besides that. I can take that time and apply it to a job. Please, let me." Guy and Kakashi sighed deeply.

"Fine. Lee I know you're one to not give up, but I would rather you do well in school than make money right now. If you find yourself too distracted to keep up your grades, you're going to stop working." Guy said sternly and Lee's face broke out into a grin.

"I will not let you down, dad! Thank you so much!" Lee hugged Guy and Kakashi together and ran out of the room happily.

"What do you suppose his job will be? He has no experience." Kakashi asked and Guy sighed and shrugged.

"Hell if I know. That'll keep him busy for a while anyway." Kakashi agreed.

***

"Hey Bushy-brow, what's up?" Lee turned to face Naruto and gave him a simple nod.

"Hello Naruto. How have you been?"

"Well, I can't really complain, other than Sasuke being a total dick." Lee smiled at that. Him and Naruto were always arguing about something, it was hard to believe they were still friends.

"When is he not?" Lee countered and Naruto grinned at him for agreeing.

"Hey, what's all that?" Naruto asked and picked up the papers without permission. Lee didn't even try to grab them back. It wouldn't do him any good, anyway.

"I am applying for a job." Lee said proudly.

"Why?" Oh. Naruto must not know yet.

"Guy and Kakashi's dojo is being shut down at the end of the month. There's no money for it right now. Rent is too high. Not enough students." Naruto cried out in anguish.

"What?! No! Not the dojo! What am I going to do now? How do I kick Sasuke's ass for absolutely no reason now!?" Naruto cried.

"Well you didn't before so..." Naruto whirled around and frowned at Sasuke's comment.

"Oh ha-ha." He crossed his arms grumpily.

"What are you two talking about kicking my ass for, anyway?" Sasuke asked and opened his locker. It was only 5 away from Lee.

"The dojo is being shut down! How have you not heard!?" Naruto yelled with authority, like he hadn't found out about it literally 30 seconds prior.

"What?" Sasuke looked surprised and then kind of sad. "How the hell am I going to kick Naruto's ass for no reason now?" 

"Exactly. Which is why I'm finding a job!" Lee said importantly and Sasuke looked down at the papers Naruto was still holding.

"You applied for Babies-R-Us?" Lee's face colored and he snatched the papers away.

"Anything will work." Sasuke smirked.

"Hey I have an idea! We could help raise money too! It could be like a fundraiser or something! There are a lot of people that count on that dojo! We could raise the money!" Naruto said excitedly and Sasuke perked his brow.

"Speak for yourself, nerd." Naruto ignored him easily and Lee's eyes filled with tears. Oh the joys of youthful friendship!

"Naruto! That is so kind of you to offer!" He hugged Naruto and Naruto tried vehemently to shove him off but he wasn't getting out of that cuddle fest. Sasuke smirked at them and Naruto glowered at Sasuke.

"Don't even. I'll have him hug you too." Naruto threatened and Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled out his books.

"Whatever losers. I'll see you later." Sasuke slammed his locker shut and walked down the hallway.

Lee laughed and closed his own locker.

"I will see you second period, Naruto." He waved and Naruto waved back going the opposite direction. Lee started to speed up before turning back around and slammed into someone else, their books scattering across the hallway. "Oh my goodness! I am terribly sorry!" Lee cried out embarrassed. 

It was the red-headed kid. He transferred last month and Lee never really talked to him. He was a grade below Lee. He stared up at Lee with his piercing aquamarine eyes and it send shivers down Lee's spine. 

"Hello. My name is Rock Lee. I am so sorry about that." Lee quickly gathered the other boy's things before his own and handed them to him. "I was not looking and I should have been. I hope you can forgive me." He nodded. "I do not believe we have ever met. What is your name?"

"...Gaara." Gaara said quietly and a grin broke out on Lee's face. He was very happy at the introduction.

"Gaara. I have never heard that name before. It is lovely." Lee blushed at the weird statement. He hoped he didn't weird the boy out too much. 

"...Thank you." Gaara perked his brow and Lee was completely flustered. There was something about this Gaara guy that just made him nervous. 

"I really hope I get to talk to you again! I must go to class now. Goodbye Gaara!" Lee gathered his own things and with a smile, went on his way. 

***

After a week of skimming through job applications and sending them in, Lee wasn't feeling very hopeful. No one called back yet and he was progressively getting more depressed. His dad and Kakashi would have to work even harder to reopen the dojo if he couldn't get a job! This was so frustrating!

At dinner, Guy noticed the look of despair on his son's face and couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Kakashi asked and Guy shook his head.

"Just the fact that Lee is so hell bent on finding a job. Son, if you can't find one, it's okay. These are some tough times. As I'm sure you've noticed." Lee frowned and continued to poke his food around.

"What about that new café that opened?" Kakashi offered and Lee glanced up curiously. "The one across the street from the school? Just Deserts I think it's called." Lee's eyes lit up. That would be perfect! He wouldn't have to walk far to get to school either. 

Lee hopped up from his seat and ran upstairs, leaving most of his food still on the plate. Guy looked at Kakashi and shook his head. Kakashi couldn't help the smirk on his face.

"You couldn't wait until after dinner?" Kakashi chuckled.

"Wasn't like he was eating anything anyway." Guy frowned but internally agreed. 

***

Lee was disheartened when he went online and saw that the bakery was closed but he didn't let that bring him down. He would go in right before school started and apply! Hopefully they would see that as dedication and not desperation... Well if they hired on desperation then maybe he would fare better that way. 

Lee shuffled through his clothes for a while trying to find a nice outfit for school the next day. One that he could proudly apply for a job in. And hopefully get said job. He really hoped it would work. Once he picked out the perfect outfit, he smiled proudly and started to get ready for bed. He was so excited for the next day that he could barely fall asleep.

***

The next morning, Lee woke up a half an hour earlier than normal and rushed to get ready. He showerd, shaved, brushed his teeth, got dressed, all in record time.

Guy was the only one downstairs and he had coffee ready. Lee didn't particularly like coffee but he felt that today was as good of day as any to drink some. 

It was terrible.

"Would you like me to drive you in? Wouldn't want to ruin your clothes." Guy winked and Lee smiled happily. He was glad that his clothes looked well enough that his dad knew he was dressing up. He only wore black jeans and a green polo, but still, it was nicer than the usual workout clothes he wore all the time. The only reason he did that though was because he was always running to and from school and during his study hall he was in the weight room working out. Not today.

"That would be so nice of you. Thank you, dad." Guy nodded and grabbed the keys and they headed out.

The drive wasn't very long, it was only two miles away from their house, still, Lee's nerves were on edge. He knew that the café opened at 5am so they were already opened and he didn't have to worry about that. But what if it was a bad time and they got so mad at him they didn't give him the job? 

Lee knew he was working himself up but the only job he ever had was at the dojo and he didn't even get paid for that one. He did it because he loved it. He learned from his father and Kakashi, for free, so he taught the younger kids for them. He was grateful for that job. He was certain whatever the job he had at Just Deserts wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable as the dojo.

Guy pulled into the parking lot and it was pretty empty since it was only 5:45am. Lee was thankful for that at least. He hoped that whomever was in charge of hiring was there right now or this would all be for naught. Lee swallowed hard and took himself into the café. 

It was actually a really cozy place. The walls were wood paneling and the floor was glazed wood and had a few tactful throw rugs. There were some small tables strewn throughout the layout and couches and recliners were nestled in the corners. The bar (why was there a bar anyway?) was long and wooden and it had a large shiny stainless steel espresso machine. There was a specials board of different drinks and all on the counters on the opposite side of the bar had different breakfast pastries. The bar had seating and behind the bar had different coffee, tea blends, and flavored syrup displayed out for the customers to see. There were two TVs, each on opposite ends of the bar. 

Lee read the specials board and understood why the café which had a whole coffee sections was called Just Deserts. All of the drinks names were angry sounding and had vague mentioning of revenge movies. Like:

The Punisher: Cup of coffee with 2 shots of espresso. You'll probably regret this later  
Mad Max: Americano with 3 shots of espresso and some of our special sweetened condensed milk concentration. If the caffeine wont wake you, the sugar sure will #WATER  
Desperado: 4 shots of espresso. Are you studying for finals?

Lee grinned at the humor of the huge list of drinks and a second later, an older girl (probably in her early 20's) met him at the bar.

"What can I get for you?" She asked and Lee stuttered. He was so nervous.

"Yes. I. Um, hi. I was wondering if you were hiring? Perhaps? Maybe?" Lee's hands were fidgeting together and the woman raised her eyebrow.

"What is your name?" She asked and Lee's face reddened.

"Oh gosh I am so sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. Hello, my name is Rock Lee. I go to school across the street and I was trying to find a job. I was hoping you were hiring. What is your name?" The woman smirked at him. He was so funny being so nervous.

"My name is Temari. What is your work history?" 

"My work history? Well, I worked in my father's dojo. I trained the younger classes." Temari gave him a curt nod.

"Is that it? Nothing in foodservice? No ServSafe certification?" She was mainly asking to break his balls, she wasn't even sure her brother had a ServSafe certification and he worked in the back. 

"O-oh. No. I am afraid I do not even know what that is. I am sorry. I am not very qualified for this job, but I am a very fast learner. I will not do anything less than perfect. I promise you that." Temari crossed her arms.

"You said you go to school?" Lee was confused by the topic change but nodded. "What grade?"

"I am a Senior." Temari looked thoughtful for a moment then smirked.

"Okay. I'm going to ask my brother to be a character witness for you." She said simply and walked in the back. 

What? Someone who went to his school worked here? Lee was suddenly more nervous than before. What if it was someone who didn't like him and then he wouldn't get the job? Lee scratched the back of his neck nervously and had to talk himself into calming down. 

Temari emerged from the back (presumably the kitchen) with a familiar set of aquamarine eyes and red hair. Lee's eyes widened.

"Gaara?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad people liked this story! It's been on my mind for a while. It's nice to actually write it though! Enjoy!

Chapter two:

 

"Wow, Gaara, I had no idea you worked here, that is so great for you. What do you do here?" The smile on Lee's face was almost infectious. Temari hid a smirk behind her hand and Gaara seemed confused at the attention.

"I do morning bake and I prep the pastries." He said quietly and Lee beamed at him.

"That is wonderful! So you've made all of these?" He pointed to the pastries on display and Gaara gave a short nod and walked further out of the kitchen. 

Lee almost died with how cute he found Gaara in checkered pants, a short-sleeved chef coat, and an apron. He also had a black headband keeping his hair out of his eyes and giving Lee a better view of his kanji "Love" tattoo. Lee couldn't help the blush on his cheeks when Gaara walked closer to him. Gaara pulled off the glass dome lid to some of the pastries and picked one up and handed it to Lee. 

"Why don't you try it?" Gaara offered and Lee quickly grabbed his backpack to look for his wallet. "No." Lee stopped what he was doing and looked up. "It's on the house." Lee's eyes widened, then he smiled shyly.

"T-thank you Gaara. Cinnamon rolls are my favorite." Gaara didn't smile, but there was something about his expression that seemed pleased. 

Temari observed the exchange, biting back a grin. How precious. If Temari didn't know better, she'd say Gaara had a crush. From the looks of how flustered Lee was, she'd guess it was a mutual thing. Who was she to stand in the way? She did need help in the mornings (mainly so she could sleep in. Getting in at 4 was not kind to her psyche.) 

"So when can you start?" She asked and Gaara and Lee turned to face her. Gaara stared at her with mild shock and Lee stared at her as if she hung the stars.

"Whenever you need me to!" He said happily and she laughed. "Would you like me to start today? I can be here after school?" Temari shook her head.

"I do need someone from early mornings though. You can start training sometime this week. If you'd like you can come in tomorrow and we can fill out paperwork and talk about wages." Lee nodded his head vigorously. He'd almost forgotten he was getting paid. He was more excited to be working with Gaara, that seemed like payment enough. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"Well... If you aren't ready to do the papers today, that is fine. But I do not have to be at school for another... 2 ½ hours. I figured I can wait here. If it would be easier to do the papers today to get them out of the way, I would be more than willing." Lee said happily and Temari raised her eyebrow.

"Wait here a minute." She walked into the back, leaving Gaara and Lee alone.

"So we're going to be working together." Lee stated with a grin and Gaara nodded.

"I can show you the kitchen when you're finished." Lee beamed thankfully. 

"That would be wonderful, Gaara. I would love that."

***

Lee never thought the paperwork would end. Apparently, you can't just walk in and get a job and start it and move on with your life. There's emergency contact papers, work history papers, standard information, tax information, what the hell was a deductible?? At least he had the delicious cinnamon roll to occupy his thoughts every time he got overwhelmed with all of the questions.

Lee was so glad when he finally finished the paperwork and was surprised to see it had taken the better part of 37 minutes. Even so, he was glad to have it finished now instead of later. He glanced over the papers one last time to make sure everything was in check, make sure he signed in the appropriate spots and wrote the correct date on the papers. With a satisfied smile, he shuffled the papers so they were even and walked to the counter, which was surprisingly busy. It was a bit passed 6 and the morning rush was just starting. Lee wished he could help but he didn't even know how to use the machine yet.

Temari worked easily, he was amazed with the fluidity of her movements. She easily made several drinks at once, not even flinching. Lee wondered if Gaara ever went up front to help. 

Another person walked through the door and Temari gave him a dirty look.

"You're late." She stated and he glanced at the clock and rolled his eyes.

"By 8 minutes, you survived." Lee was surprised at the tone! How can you disrespect your boss that way? Lee would never dare!

"Kankuro, just shut up and get behind the counter." Temari looked irritated but not as much as she could be. "By the way, this is Lee, the new hire." She nudged Lee at the bar and Lee tensed at the sudden attention.

"Yo, Lee. I'm Kankuro. Temari and Gaara's brother." Well that would make sense why he was able to talk to her like that. He still shouldn't but Lee felt if Temari were talked to that way by anyone else, they would be fired.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Lee said automatically and Kankuro chuckled and started making the drinks at the machine as Temari passed him cups and handled the transactions. 

Lee began pondering to himself. If he worked here in the mornings, would he be replacing Temari or Kankuro? If he replaced Temari, he would be there for nearly two hours alone with Gaara. The thought was exciting. He hoped he'd be able to talk to Gaara more. He seemed like an interesting person, it didn't help that Lee thought he was the cutest guy he'd ever seen.

Thinking about Gaara sparked something in Lee's mind and he remembered Gaara said he'd show him around the kitchen when he was done so Lee put a pen down on top of his papers and slid it across the bar. He walked over to the swinging door that led to the kitchen and saw Temari and Kankuro were distracted with customers so pushed into the kitchen.

The kitchen was bigger than he expected it to be. There was a line of counters on the far wall with a stove, two work benches in the middle of the kitchen, and the other side had several glass door refrigerators. On the opposite end of the room there was a steel door that led into a walk-in freezer. Under the workbenches were several rolling bins with assorted baking equipment and on the right side of him the wall was nearly empty, having only an over and a sink. There was another doorway that Lee saw but he didn't want to walk in too far incase Gaara was busy.

Right now he stood at the counter holding a cornet filled with royal icing outlining sugar cookies. He glanced up and acknowledged Lee but said nothing and continued to ice the cookies. After a few awkward seconds of Lee standing there Gaara looked up briefly.

"You can come over if you'd like." Lee didn't need to be told twice. He loved to watch people work. Especially something as intricate as what Gaara was doing.

"What kind of decorations are you doing on them?" So far they were just circles with an orange circle around them.

"Some of them will be jack-o-lanterns." Gaara said quietly and Lee watched him outline the ridges with one cornet and pick up another one with a slightly lighter orange and fill it with runnier icing. After, he grabbed a thin scribe to push the icing around.

He had an entire sheet tray of pumpkin cookies iced before he grabbed another metal bowl and added more royal icing and dyed it black. He folded a piece of parchment paper into another cornet and filled it. He folded the bag so it wouldn't leak and he placed it on a plate and grabbed his dirty dishes.

"Come on." He said and walked through the next doorway which was a dish pit with a 3 basin sink and a dish washer. Despite the room next door being cool, this room was warm and humid. Lee found himself having a hard time breathing in it. On the other wall in the room were two speed racks filled with sheet trays. "This is the dish room. Our dishwasher isn't very punctual but no one wants to be a dishwasher so we take what we can get." 

"If you would like me to, I can do the dishes." Gaara shook his head.

"I think Temari would want you out front. You're too... personable to keep back here. You need a certain mentality to work with the public. Which is why I'm back here." Lee went to make a comment, but Gaara was out of the room already and Lee quickly trailed after him. He peeked into the refrigerator and saw various cambros filled with different batters for cakes. There was more eggs than Lee had ever seen in his life at one time. One fridge was completely filled with different kinds of milk. Whole, skim, almond, soy, hemp, coconut. Why were there so many options? There was also a large jar filled with a creamy brown colored liquid.

"What is that?" Lee asked and Gaara glanced up.

"That is a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and coffee. You can add a bit to coffee drinks to make them sweeter and creamier." That sounded delightful.

"Do you make things for the coffee too?" Gaara nodded and he started drawing faces on the pumpkin cookies once he felt the base icing was dry.

"Ganache and caramel, mostly. Those are the most popular options." Lee was impressed.

"You make that here? That sounds so fancy." Gaara perked his brow.

"For ganache all I do is weigh out 650 grams of chocolate, put it in a bain marie, pour a quart of milk into a pot, warm that up, pour it on top, leave it alone for 5 minutes, come back, mix it and there you have it, ganache." Lee looked at Gaara thoughtfully.

"I never knew it was that simple." He admitted, truth be told, he didn't know much about ganache.

Lee continued to watch Gaara draw faces on the cookies and asked him random questions about what he was doing. Gaara responded with just the right amount of words. Nothing too wordy, considering he didn't much like talking. Lee was happy to hear him talk all the same. Even more so, he loved to see him work. Gaara's hands were a lot steadier than Lee's were, that was for certain. 

It was amusing that all the faces were different in some aspect. Some were angry, some were happy, some looked sad, some had square eyes, some round, some triangle. None were the same and Lee loved that. He was also excited to see that the bakery was getting into the autumn spirit. Autumn was his favorite times of year. It was nice and cool, the leaves changed color, and of course, there was pumpkin and apple everything! 

Finally, Gaara slid the cookies onto a speed rack with a variety of other baked goods and looked up at Lee.

"It's time for school." He pointed out and Lee couldn't help the nagging feeling of disappointment at that. He couldn't wait to start work and spend all of these mornings with Gaara. He hoped Gaara felt even slightly the same. 

Gaara walked into one of the doors that Lee peeked in and saw was an employee bathroom and came out a few minutes later changed out of his chef clothes and into plain jeans and a red sweater. He also had such a strange shaped backpack. 

Lee followed Gaara out of the kitchen and the line was still there, but not as bad. Gaara walked behind the counter and grabbed a cold cup and started making himself an iced drink.

"Would you like some coffee, Lee?" He offered and Lee debated it.

"I am not really a fan of coffee..." He admitted bashfully and Gaara looked up at Temari.

"Well..." Temari started. "You should try the drink Gaara always makes. Do you have a sweet tooth?" Lee nodded and Gaara pulled out another cold cup. Lee never had cold coffee before. 

Gaara worked around his siblings, putting a scoop of ice into Lee's cup and he made two shots of espresso at the same time. Gaara filled the cup halfway with milk, then tended to the espresso shots. He took a squeeze bottle of vanilla simple syrup into the espresso and mixed it. Before he put the espresso in the cup, he reached into the fridge and pulled out the sweetened condensed milk mixture and put at least a fourth cup in. Gaara dumped the shot on top and closed the lid and handed Lee the drink and picked up two straws and handed Lee one of those too. Lee took it and stared at the drink for a moment and Kankuro was scowling.

"Gaara, you ruin coffee, you know that, don’t you?" Gaara shrugged his shoulders while drinking.

"So do you, and you're a barista. At least when I ruin coffee, someone doesn't pay for it." Kankuro scowled and Temari laughed.

"Don't you have to go to school?" Kankuro scowled and Gaara nodded.

"So do you."

Lee finally took a sip of his drink. His only thought was the bitterness of the coffee he drank earlier that morning. This coffee on the other hand, was nothing like that. It was sweet and creamy and had the slightest bitterness in the aftertaste. It was delicious.

"This is amazing." Lee said honestly and drank more.

"Calm down there." Temari warned. "You'll get a stomach ache if you chug that." Lee heeded her advice, but it was so hard with the coffee being so good.

***

Him and Gaara walked to school together. It was only across the street, but Lee still felt happy to have Gaara walking by his side. Gaara was such a calm, quiet person. It almost reminded him of Sasuke when they first met. Lee and Sasuke became friends in the fourth grade. Sasuke was angry at the world because his parents had died and he was left in the custody of his older brother, Itachi. Itachi and Sasuke always had this weird air about them. They always fought about something but Lee and Naruto absolutely adored Itachi which probably didn't make anything better. Anyway, once Lee and Sasuke became friends, Sasuke became much more talkative. Not that he was talkative now, but he was more so than he used to be. Lee hoped the same would happen with Gaara.

They walked in silence and Lee noticed how it was still decently early. Why were they there so soon?

"I usually walk the track in the morning before school to get myself awake." Lee could understand. Sometimes he woke up at four to run a couple miles.

"Why do you need to walk when you already get up at four?" Lee asked and Gaara looked at him, Lee noticed the bags under his eyes. He wondered why Lee looked perpetually exhausted. Did it have something to do with the job?

"Waking up for work and waking up are two different things. I'm going to walk the track. You don't have to join if you don't want to." Lee smiled at Gaara.

"Of course I would like to. I have so much more to ask you about baking!" Lee felt excitement at the budding friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this story has a base plot. Lee works with Gaara. It doesn't really have anything more than that. There isn't any drama planned for it. Right now the only plan is to have Lee learn about being a barista and him watching Gaara at work. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I was thinking, what if you guys gave me prompts for each chapter? This way even if I don't figure out the main plot, I will still have subplots to accomplish.
> 
> Anyway, I'm so glad this story is getting any traffic at all! I really enjoy this one.

Chapter 3

Lee was buzzing the entire day. Coffee was something he should not drink. Sasuke and Naruto acted like they were going to kill themselves if they had to continue dealing with Lee. He was just so awake!

Lee was bummed out that he didn't see Gaara at all that day. He wondered what Gaara's schedule looked like. Would it be weird to ask? Probably. Maybe he could subtly get it from Gaara without outright asking him. Maybe? Speaking of Gaara, Lee had seen Kankuro around way more times than Lee even realized. He didn't know Kankuro was in his lunch period or his gym period. Huh. 

"At the risk of not being able to get you to shut up, what is your new job like?" Sasuke asked and Lee turned to him, slight flush of the cheeks.

"Am I really talking that much?" Lee asked and Sasuke, Naruto and their mutual friend Sakura even nodded. "I am so sorry. Gaara made me coffee this morning and I just... I feel like I am tasting colors right now." 

"Sheesh. What did he put in your coffee?" Naruto asked and Lee shrugged.

"Who is Gaara?" Sasuke asked and Lee thought for a minute on how to explain him.

"He's short... Well not short short. Probably Naruto's height which is still shorter than me." Naruto glared. "He has messy bright red hair and like... aqua colored eyes. Oh! He has a tattoo on his forehead and he looks like he hasn't slept in 3 years." Naruto snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah! I know him. He's in my English class. Super quiet. Kind of creepy." Lee glared at Naruto but before he could say something, Sasuke bit back.

"At least he isn't stupid. If he's in your English class, that means he's a year younger than us since someone failed." Naruto blushed and looked sheepish.

"Yeah Naruto, who are you to judge someone?" Sakura scolded and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Gaara is very nice." Lee said simply and went to work on his papers.

"Are you really using study hall to study today?" Naruto asked incredulously. 

"I use it to study every day." Lee retorted and turned back to his work. Naruto grinned and looked at Sasuke and Sakura and all of them stared at Lee, wondering how long it would take him to realize that he was too fidgety to actually focus on anything.

It took less than a minute.

"Did you know my job is looking for a reliable dish washer?" He said and Naruto looked excited.

"They have an opening?! Awesome! You think they'll hire me?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Naruto he said reliable. Plus, no one wants you to wash their dishes. They want them cleaned." Naruto pouted at Sasuke and glowered mumbling to himself.

"Well, if anyone would like a job I am sure they will look into hiring you." Lee said simply and tried to focus on his work again.

***

Lee hadn't seen Gaara at all that day and he was pretty bummed out. Naruto and Sasuke followed him to the café, even though it was across the street, they'd never been.

What was interesting to them was who was behind the counter. Lee thought the staff was only Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. Apparently, their friend Shikamaru worked there as well.

"Oh wow look who it is!" Naruto laughed gleefully and Shikamaru groaned.

"Oh man, what a drag. What are you doing here?" He asked with a tired expression.

"Lee works here now." Sasuke commented simply and was immersed with the large drink selection. "Naruto was also looking to be a dishwasher."

"Not a chance. We actually need them cleaned." Shikamaru enunciated and Naruto sighed loudly and rolled his eyes.

"Why does everyone think I can't clean?" 

"Because you can't." Lee supplied flippantly and looked around, trying to find Gaara but not seeing him.

"When do you start?" Shikamaru asked and Sasuke nudged Lee because he wasn't paying attention.

"Huh? Oh. I am not sure. I have to ask Temari. It was never discussed." 

"Well if you're looking for her, she isn't here right now. Hold on, I'll call her." Shikamaru dialed the number and with a bored expression waited patiently. "Yeah, hi. Lee is here... Yes that's exactly it... What?... That doesn't even make sense... Are you sure?... Okay. I'll ask." Shikamaru looked up from the phone. "So there was something she had to do right now. You can start whenever you want. I'll be training you." Lee felt a stabbing pain of disappointment. He wasn't sure why he was hopeful that Gaara would train him. He wasn't even a barista.

"Is now too early?" Lee asked and Shikamaru chuckled and put the phone back to his ear.

"You were right, he wants to start now... Yeah yeah, I know how to do this... Don't worry... You're so annoying stop talking... Okay okay. I'll see you soon. Yeah, bye." Shikamaru hung up and Sasuke was smirking at him. "What?"

"You and the boss?" Shikamaru's cheeks colored and he glowered.

"What makes you say that?" He asked with his eyes narrowed.

"Just guessing." Sasuke laughed and Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, Lee you can start your training today if you want. You'll only be here until five, the latest, though because Temari wants you on mornings. She said she just wanted you to get in the swing of using the machine. So come back here. Actually, go put your stuff in the back bathroom first. There's cubbies for employees." Lee nodded excitedly and gave a smile to Naruto and Sasuke and rushed into the kitchen.

He found himself even more disappointed seeing that Gaara wasn't even in the kitchen. How sad. He shook his head out from those thoughts and walked into the bathroom and got an empty cubby and put his belongings down. He looked at the other ones and they all had their name tags stuck to the top part of the wood so you knew who's cubby was who's. Gaara's had a surprising amount of clothes in it and really chunky looking nonslip shoes. There was also a couple of books. He sure kept a lot here. Lee looked up at Gaara's nametag, which read "Gaara. Baker". Everyone's nametag was handwritten so when he saw Gaara's he wondered if that was his handwriting. It was very neat and almost mechanical. Everything was completely even and straight. He'd never been able to write like that. Kankuro's was barely even English and Temari's was script. There were also three other nametags. There were four baristas, a dishwasher and another baker, according to nametags. Lee wondered when he'd get his own.

Once he was done in the bathroom, he walked up front and Shikamaru dug in a cabinet under the bar.

"What size are you?" He asked.

"Medium." Lee responded curiously. He was given two shirts, a hat and an apron. They were all a rusty red color with "Just Desserts" written on it in a menacing font. Lee took the shirts back to the bathroom and changed. He looked weird in an apron and a hat. The apron was only one for your hips; it had three large pockets in them. Lee put his phone and a couple of pens in it and walked back to the front. 

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on a couch in the corner, drinking something and both playing on their phones. Every now and again one of them would nudge the other one just to irritate the other. 

When Lee paid attention to Shikamaru, he noticed his uniform was slightly different. His shirt was white.

"Why is your shirt a different color?" Lee asked and Shikamaru pulled out a binder and opened it.

"I'm the night manager. If you noticed, Temari wears one too." He said simply and gathered Lee's attention to the book in front of them. "These are all of our drinks, what's in them and how they're made. Fairly simple. Whenever you don't know what something is, just ask. Now back to the espresso machine..."

***

Lee's head ached with all of the knowledge he was given in such a short time. Being a barista was a lot harder than he thought it was! Apparently, the espresso grinder had to be adjusted based on the temperature because it reacted differently. After the shot was ground, it had to be tamped in the pressurize portafilter with 75 pounds of pressure, release, 20 pounds of pressure. If the grounds were too fine, it would burn the shot and if they were too coarse, the shot would be watered down. The perfect shot takes 20-25 seconds for 1 ounce.

Lee decided then, if he ever went out to get a drink, he was tipping his barista. 

After the three hours had passed, Lee learned how to create macrofoam with the steam rod, he learned some of the drink names, the difference between a latte, cappuccino, flat white, macchiato. He hoped he retained all of the information. Shikamaru gave him a small quiz at the end of the shift.

"What's a flat white?"

"A latte with just steamed milk, no foam."

"What's a dry cappuccino?"

"A shot of espresso with the rest of the cup dry foam."

"What degree angle should you hold the cup to the steam rod?"

"At a 45 degree angle."

Lee was amazed he remembered as much as he did. He was really trying. This entire time, Sasuke and Naruto were on the couches. They did their homework together, drank a stupid amount of craft soda, they even shared some pastries. Lee bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. He'd have to ask how their date went after he left. Since it was the weekend, they decided they would go to Lee's house and wait for him. Lee wasn't worried about it, they usually messed with Kakashi the whole time.

Lee walked into the bathroom to get his stuff when he heard a figure behind him. He turned his head and there was Gaara in his sweater and jeans. Lee's face lit up.

"Gaara! Hello!" Gaara always seemed confused every time Lee looked excited to see him. He waved.

"Hello, Lee." He walked to the cubby and hung up his bookbag.

"I was wondering if I would see you before I left. When do you usually work?" Lee asked, hoping it wasn't too forward of him.

"I'm almost always here. I just wasn't here now because I was working on a project. Temari text me and told me to give you her number so you can talk about hours." Gaara pulled out his phone, it was a really old flip-phone. Lee stared at it in confusion. Why did Gaara have such an old phone?

"Okay!" Lee quickly grabbed his phone from his apron pocket and Gaara gave him Temari's number. "W-well what if I need you to let me in or something in the morning? Shouldn't I have your number too? I-if that's okay, I mean." Lee wondered why he was so flustered. Gaara stared at him for a few seconds, nodded slowly, and gave Lee his number as well. "Thank you Gaara! I will see you when Temari tells me to come in next!" Lee waved excitedly and Gaara raised his hand at the wave and Lee was out. 

Lee never realized a bathroom could be so stuffy and warm.

***

Sasuke, Lee and Naruto all loaded up into Sasuke's car. It was a beat up old 1999 Mercedes ML350 which was basically a mom car and he was teased relentlessly for it until one day he snapped "Well why don't you drive me with one of your cars? Oh wait. I'm the only one with a car." From that point on, they only made fun of his mom car every so often.

When they pulled up to Lee's house, Lee was so excited to tell his dad and Kakashi about his new job that he jumped out of the car. Naruto and Sasuke laughed and followed him inside.

"Dad! Kakashi!" Lee scrambled through the house to the kitchen where they normally were when they were home. He found the two sitting at the table eating dinner. Lee hadn't realized it was dinner time.

"Yes?" Gai asked and ate a piece of broccoli. Sasuke and Naruto walked in behind Lee and sat at the table and started picking at the food. Kakashi swatted Naruto on the side of the head, but handed them plates anyway.

"I got it! I got the job! I am a barista now!" Guy jumped up and hugged Lee with much gusto and Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto had to sit miserably through Guy's pep talk about "youthful energy" and "work ethic" and then the two cried and hugged each other.

"Why do we come here?" Sasuke asked Naruto and Kakashi stared him down.

"At least you don't live here. This happens daily." Kakashi sighed and continued to eat his food.

"That sounds so bad. No wonder we're your only friends, Lee." But Lee and Guy were still having a moment and not paying the slightest bit of attention. 

"Lee got someone's number." Naruto announced, trying to rile Guy and Kakashi up, but Lee didn't miss a beat.

"Did you notice that before or after your date with Sasuke?" Naruto and Sasuke blanched and started yelling about how gross that would be and Lee looked at Kakashi. "You should have seen them. They were sitting on the couch, doing homework and sharing food."

"Aw, how sweet. Did you have a nice date? Did you use protection? Oh, silly me, that isn't until the third date. How many dates is this?" Sasuke glowered and in a show of his manliness, shoved Naruto off his chair.

"I would never date that loser." Naruto jumped off the floor and pointed at him.

"Hey, who are you calling a loser?! You know, it takes one to know one! You're the loser Sasuke." Lee smiled in delight at the situation he caused and ate his dinner listening to his two best friends verbally abuse each other.

A part of him wondered if that was a date though. At least no one asked him about Gaara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember! Give me prompts to fill for the chapters! Please :) It'll help me write faster.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could really use some prompts!

Chapter 4:

 

Lee woke up the next morning to his alarm blaring at 4:25. He had to be at work at 5 for training. He didn't mind much. He was able to get a good night's sleep. The night before he couldn't sleep because he was so excited. Now that he got that excitement out of the way, sleep came easily.

Lee's bed was a king sized bed, he used to have a twin, but Guy wanted a new bed so gave Lee the old one. It took up most of his room, but at least Sasuke and Naruto were happy they didn't have to sleep on the floor. Both of them had plenty of room on the bed, more now that Lee was leaving.

The floor was cold on his feet and it felt nice. It woke him up more at the temperature change from his warm bed. Lee grabbed his uniform from the top of his dresser and walked to the bathroom to shower. Usually he took one at night, but Sasuke and Naruto kept his attention the entire time.

After his shower, the clock read 4:40 and Lee tiptoed to Sasuke's sleeping form. Lee heard the down pouring rain from outside and was not looking forward to walking.

"Sasuke." He whispered and Sasuke's eyes opened slowly. "Can I borrow the car?" Sasuke gave a nod and went back to sleep. Lee smiled and grabbed his rain coat and rain boots and left the room in a hurry. 

The house was so quiet at this time, he loved it. He could hear snoring from Guy's bedroom though and stifled a giggle.

"You headed to work?" Kakashi asked, scaring Lee half to death. Lee turned to face the man sitting on the couch, nursing a cup of coffee.

"Yes. I will be back around noon. Naruto and Sasuke will probably sleep until 10, I am taking Sasuke's car." Lee explained, pressing the start button on the car. It was probably super cold outside with the rain and he wanted the car as warm as could be.

"Oh boy, you're leaving us to babysit the boys." Lee grinned.

"They just love you, Kakashi." Kakashi rolled his eyes and shooed Lee out of the house. "Goodbye Kakashi! Love you!"

"Love you too, kid." 

***

The ride to the café was pretty terrifying. The sky was black and the rain was coming down so hard, Lee had a difficult time seeing with his wipers on full speed. When he finally got to the café, he didn't want to get out of the car. He really didn't want to get wet. He should've brought a change of pants. Lee took a deep breath and jumped out of the car, lunging for the front door, which was thankfully opened.

Lee's coat dripped water onto the welcome mat and he looked around the café. The lights weren't all on so it had an eerie vibe to it.

He heard rustling in the kitchen and wiped his boots and pulled off his coat and followed the sound of the noise.

When Lee walked into the kitchen, there was Gaara, sitting on a stool, piping roses and putting them on a sheet tray.

"Good morning Gaara!" Lee said happily and Gaara turned to him.

"Good morning Lee. How did you sleep?" The question surprised Lee, he didn't think Gaara would as about his well being. The question made him smile wider.

"I slept wonderfully. How about you?" Gaara shrugged.

"I haven't been to sleep yet." He admitted and Lee's posture slouched.

"What? Well why are you here? Are you ok?" Gaara nodded slowly, putting all of his attention into the roses. 

Lee sighed and went to the bathroom to hang everything up. Once he was back in the kitchen, Gaara was putting the sheet tray into the speed rack in the standing freezer.

Lee turned to look over the swinging doors that led to the dish pit and saw that there was a decent amount of dishes stacked up.

Gaara broke down his piping bags and squeezed the excess buttercream into quart containers and stacked them neatly back on the shelf. Lee watched in interest as he walked to his small clipboard and crossed something off of the list. There was at least 35 different things crossed off. Lee was amazed. He left at 5pm, it was now 5am and Gaara hadn't slept? He'd been working for 12 hours? When was he going home?

"Are you done now?" Lee asked and Gaara scanned the list and shook his head.

"No, I have to make caramel now. I used it all for filling cupcakes. Temari won't be happy if there isn't any caramel to use for up front. She has a half quart but she is anal." Lee snorted at the comment and Gaara looked over at him with his lips curled up somewhat.

"Speaking of, where is she?" Lee asked and Gaara shrugged.

"I don't know. We may open later today because of the storm. Temari is usually here at 430 to start opening. I think she said the power went off last night. Perhaps she slept through her alarm." Gaara walked to the oven where he had pots stacked on top and found it difficult to reach the copper bottom pot he needed. Lee quickly made himself available and grabbed the pot for him. Lee didn't realize how much shorter Gaara was than him. He loved it. "Thank you."

"No problem! Would you like some assistance?" Gaara looked at Lee thoughtfully. 

"I suppose if you'd like to. Can you get out the heavy cream and butter?" Lee nodded enthusiastically and quickly went to the dairy side of the fridge and pulled some out.

Gaara weight sugar in the pot and poured water in it and mixed the sugar and water with a gloved hand. Lee watched with interest. He put a tablespoon of something Lee didn't know what it was in the pot and mixed that too. He placed the pot on the stove and turned it on and grabbed two quart containers and a small scale. He scaled out his heavy cream and diced the butter and weighed that too. He then looked at Lee.

"That's it until the caramel cooks." Every time Lee was with Gaara, he was impressed by the simplicity of things. How was it that easy to make caramel? How was it that easy to make anything? Gaara just floated around the kitchen with ease. Where did he learn all of this stuff.

"How long does it take?" Gaara shrugged at the question. "When do you know it is ready?"

"Smell." Gaara said simply and Lee was confused. "When it's ready it will smell sweet. You could also use a thermometer, but ours broke a while ago." Gaara said simply.

"That is so cool that you can do that!" Lee grinned and Gaara gave a small tug at the corner of his lips.

"I appreciate it. Would you like a drink? I suppose you don't want coffee, you're already awake." Lee smiled bashfully.

"Actually, if you could, I would love one of your drinks." Gaara looked at him confused and then nodded.

"The espresso drink?" Lee dipped his head in agreement. "Glad to hear you enjoyed it." Well that was an understatement if Lee'd ever heard one. Lee considered getting Sasuke one. Sasuke liked coffee. Naruto didn't.

Lee followed Gaara to the front counter. Lee saw the clock over on the wall with the TV's and the time read 5:13. Temari was almost an hour late. Wow. He returned his gaze to Gaara and suddenly Gaara turned to him.

"Would you like it iced or hot?" Lee considered his options. It was rather cold in the building but he really liked the iced drink.

"I will take it cold." He decided and Gaara smirked a bit. He made both of the drinks iced and led Lee to the sitting area. The couches were very comfortable; Lee now knew why Naruto and Sasuke had no qualms spending 3 hours on them. Gaara sipped his drink; his legs crossed and pulled his hood over his head. He was wearing a sweater under his chef coat. 

"You are cold?" Lee asked and Gaara nodded.

"Where we lived was very hot all of the time. I'm not used to this kind of weather." He admitted and Lee was happy to hear some sort of tidbit of knowledge on Gaara's life.

"Where did you live?" He asked and Gaara sighed softly.

"The desert. The one across the country." Wow, that was a pretty big move.

"Why did you move?" Lee asked easily and noticed how Gaara tensed up. "Are you ok?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Gaara said stiffly and Lee immediately felt bad.

"Oh I am so sorry; I did not mean to pry." Gaara relaxed a fraction, brought his straw to his lips, and drank his coffee. The silence was deafening and Lee wished he could break it but had no idea what to say. Regrettably, Lee couldn't focus on anything but the mysterious reason why Gaara moved. Thousands of different reasons ran through his head and each was worse than the next. He decided he should stop focusing on that if he were going to concentrate at all. 

"How do you like this area?" Lee settled for and Gaara's posture relaxed slightly.

"It's okay. The school is easier than my last school." He admitted simply and Lee wondered how schools could be easier. Wasn't there standardized testing? "It's nice to be somewhere different. Although, I do miss the warmth of the desert."

"You grew up in the desert?" Gaara nodded. "Well I can understand why you would prefer it then. Personally, I like this type of weather. Rainy days are the best days. They are nice to relax in bed and watch movies with friends or family." Lee said with a fond expression, Gaara's expression soured.

"I wouldn't know what that feels like." Gaara said with an air of sadness. Before Lee could question him on it, Gaara stood up and made his way to the kitchen. Lee debated on if he should follow him or not. Was this Gaara wanting to be alone? Did he want him to follow? Lee decided to follow anyway. Gaara should not be alone when he was sad!

Lee made it to the kitchen in time to see Gaara whisking in the butter a few pieces at a time. He stood by the stove and Gaara let his eyes wander to Lee's face. Lee liked the feeling of having those gorgeous eyes on him.

"Next step is whisking in the butter slowly. Then add the heavy cream. Then it's done." Gaara said simply and Lee nodded and was mesmerized at the motion of Gaara whisking. It was oddly calming. 

"Does it bother your arm?" Lee asked and Gaara shrugged.

"Not the caramel, but sometimes when I whisk something by hand and its thick it does. For the most part, you get used to it." 

"Shit! Lee I am so sorry!" Lee was jerked out of his trance at Temari's voice. She ran into the kitchen completely soaked. "My car died and I had no cell service. I was on the side of the road. I had Shikamaru pick me up, but the rain is so bad. Luckily, I brought extra clothes. I will be right out." She ran into the bathroom and Lee stared sadly at Gaara. Well he supposed it was time to work, not just talk to Gaara.

***

"You're really catching on quickly." Temari said, impressed. Lee smiled shyly.

"I was not lying when I said I was a fast learner." Temari found the statement was usually said as a brag, but Lee's tone suggested otherwise. He was a really genuine guy.

"Well, you keep smiling at customers, it's good for business." Lee saluted and Temari smiled at the absurdity of it. "You're weird, Lee." She said, surprisingly fondly. Lee liked the gentleness of her tone. He wasn't used to people calling him names in a nice manner. They usually just made fun of the way he looked or dressed. "I'm impressed you handled the lunch rush very well. Too bad the rain destroyed the breakfast rush. That's where most of the money comes from."

"I bet." He looked sadly at all the delicious pastries and baked goods. "I hope everything sells. I would not want them to go to waste." 

"Would you like to take some home with you? Gaara prepared for the breakfast rush of Saturday. There's no way we're going through all of this." Lee smiled appreciatively.

"Only if you are certain. I would love anything Gaara made." Lee paused and flushed at the comment and stared at the floor, embarrassed. 

"I'm sure he would appreciate the thought." Temari said with a warm smile. 

***

"Lee! These are amazing!" Naruto was going to choke if he kept eating that way. Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he'd grown additional appendages. 

"Isn't Gaara talented? These are marvelous." Lee praised, eating a scone.

"Gaara made all of this?" Kakashi said, surprised. "How does he find the time?" Lee suddenly got upset at the thought that he left and Gaara was still in the kitchen. He'd been there working for 18 hours! He didn't seem more tired than he normally looked either. He hoped Gaara could find time to sleep soon. 

"He does not sleep much." Lee said softly and continued eating his scone. 

"This is like the millionth time you've mentioned Gaara since you got the job." Kakashi said bluntly and Lee's face colored and he glared with indignation. 

"Aw, Lee has a crush." Naruto teased and Sasuke chuckled, not saying much, but eating a s'mores muffin. 

"At least I did not have a date with him on the couch at the café like some people I know." Lee retorted and sent Naruto and Sasuke into another heated debate on how much they hated each other. Lee grinned and Kakashi shook his head.

"Son, you've got some evil bone in you, you know that, right?" Lee just gave him a sly smile. 

"A lovers quarrel so soon in the day?" Guy said as he walked in the room, the look on Naruto and Sasuke's faces was priceless. Lee actually bust out laughing

"I would not date someone as big of a loser as he is." Sasuke said childishly and that brought on a whole new argument. Lee really did love his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts, please!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lee deals with a difficult customer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to artlessICTOAN for the prompt for this chapter! It made it super fun.

Chapter 5:

 

On Sunday, Lee arrived at work at 4:45, just so he had time to see Gaara before he started working. He'd never understand the obsession his mind currently had, he didn't think much about it. He just caved. 

Kakashi let him borrow the car for today since Sasuke and Naruto went home the day before. Lee would've walked, but the weather was still acting up. Lee told himself he'd run the track after work when the day was warmer.

When he walked in the door, Temari had gone through most of the opening process. Grinding the coffee, brewing the coffee, turning on all the machines, adjusting the espresso grinder, turning the TV's on to various channels. Lee was slightly bummed he couldn't be of more help. He spotted Gaara at the bar, holding a tray of sticky buns and putting them on display on a cake stand with a dome lid. His neck turned to meet Lee's face and Lee smiled brightly.

"Good morning, Gaara!" Temari stared at him in amazement.

"How much coffee did you drink?" She asked and Gaara sighed.

"He doesn't drink coffee. He's just a morning person." Temari looked aghast at the thought and covered her heart, as if the thought offended her. "My thoughts exactly."

"Man, I can't wait until you're trained enough to open so I can sleep if you're a morning person." Temari laughed and Lee shrugged with a smile.

"I would not mind. I am here to help." Temari smiled at him like she was fond of him. That made Lee feel nice, he didn't have too many friends. If his boss liked him enough, Lee would be happy to consider her a friend too.

***

When Lee was able to catch a break from the morning rush, he walked into the back to see what Gaara was up to. He needed to stock the front fridge with whole milk and almond milk, so he didn't feel too bad for abandoning Temari. It wasn't like there were any customers.

"Hello Gaara. What are you doing?" Lee asked cheerfully and Gaara glanced up with a scowl.

"An order cake." He said with disdain. "I hate customers and their stupid requests."

"Well what is the request?" Lee asked curiously and Gaara picked up the sheet and with contempt on his face, he read with a sneer, 

"A gluten free, vegan vanilla cake with, get this, lemon curd and toasted coconut. Also since buttercream is too sweet, she wants to opt out of that and have me just smother her cake in jam." Lee bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. "Not only does lemon curd have butter, but it also has egg yolk in it. Now I have to go to the store to buy dairy free butter because I used all of it making the cake batter. I told her I would do a naked cake style if she didn't want the icing but jam was her bright idea. I never want to answer the phone ever again." Lee couldn't help the giggle, but tried to stifle it with his shoulder.

"I'm so-" Lee snorted, and composed himself. "I'm sorry, Gaara." Lee couldn't help but find the pout on his face ridiculously adorable.

"At least I don't have to make vegan buttercream..." Gaara sighed and spread coconut flakes on a sheet pan and threw it in the oven with much annoyance. Lee had to get out of the kitchen before he lost it.

***

It seems that Gaara wasn't the only unlucky one today with customers. Lee had his fair share of nasty people. He wondered if it was the weather or something. Did weather make people crazy? He was quite sure of it after working here.

So far he'd been yelled at for the following:

1) That they weren't a Starbucks (Sorry we have good coffee?)  
2) That their coffee at a specialty coffee shop wasn't as cheap as it was at the gas station. (Sorry we have good coffee??)  
3) That even though they had endless pastries to choose from, they did not offer breakfast sandwiches on the menu since they... just didn't do breakfast sandwiches.  
4) That their macchiato wasn't what Starbucks' macchiato was ("Macchiato literally means "stained" which is because it's a shot of espresso "stained" with a dollop of steamed milk. It's not an upside down latte. If that is what you want, order an upside down latte." –Temari)  
5) That different tea sizes are different prices. (I'm sorry you have to pay more for your larger drink)  
6) Why is the large tea more expensive than the regular tea when they both use one bag? (Because the cups are bigger so cost more.)

Lee had an endless supply of patience, but the last customer was pushing it.

"I need to order a cake." Thank you for ordering this cake in the middle of the lunch rush. Thank you. 

"Of course." Lee nodded enthusiastically and pulled out an order pad. "When is the cake needed?"

"Tonight." Lee paused and stared at her in confusion before quickly melting that expression into a kind one.

"I am terribly sorry, but we require a week's notice for cake orders." He apologized and she scowled at him.

"It's my mom's birthday tonight. I need a cake." There were so many things he wanted to say to her but kept his soft expression, although it pained him.

"I really am so sorry; however it would be impossible for us to do a cake in a few hours. There are preparations for it-"

"So you aren't making my mother's birthday cake?" She spat and Lee shook his head slowly.

"No, I am sorry but it is impossible." She shook her head.

"Go talk to the baker or whatever and see if they'll make an exception. It's my mother's birthday." She said it as if it were the Queen and everyone needed to heed her wishes. Lee wanted to appease her so he nodded at her with a smile and turned to walk to the kitchen. With the bad mood Gaara was in, he wondered what he could possibly say.

Lee felt badly about leaving Kankuro with the rest of the customers, he was going to say something but he was trying not to laugh so left Lee to deal with customers nicely.

Walking into the kitchen, Lee stared at Gaara. He was frowning at the cake in front of him. There was a bowl of a yellow concoction (Lee supposed it was the vegan lemon curd), a bowl of toasted coconut, and three layers of cake, cut and ready to be decorated. He glanced up at Lee and frowned. He took spoon and gathered some of the yellow liquid and picked it up out of the bowl and it just dripped like water back into the bowl.

"This lemon curd won't set up. It's been in the fridge for 4 hours, it's completely liquid, who the hell took this shitty order? I don't do vegan. I don't know how to do vegan." Lee smiled sheepishly and Gaara's shoulders sagged. "What do they want from me now?"

"So... I know you are going to say no but the customer insisted I ask anyway. Is there any possible way you can make a cake for this woman's mother's birthday... tonight?" Gaara's lips pursed and his eyes were dark.

"Do they think I just pull cakes out of my butt?" The way Gaara sounded made it actually seem like he was curious, and Lee bit his lip. Trying not to laugh at an angry Gaara was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. Twice today Gaara had made him laugh because his obvious disdain for the public. Lee couldn't take it anymore, he laughed, a hearty laugh and he had tears in his eyes. 

"I-I am so sorry." He said in-between laughs, now laughing without making any noise. Gaara watched him with parts horror, confusion, and amusement. 

It took a minute for Lee to calm down, once he did his face was bright red and he had tears running down his cheeks.

"I am sorry, Gaara. I did not expect you to say something like that." Lee wiped the tears off his face and noticed Gaara looked slightly pleased. "So what should I tell her?"

"That if she loved her mother, she would've thought to order her a cake before her birthday." Gaara said flatly and Lee snorted and stopped himself from laughing again.

"I cannot work with you." Lee said teasingly. "You make me laugh too much." Lee shook his head and left the kitchen, Gaara watched him leave with a slight curl of his lip. He was proud to make Lee lose control like that.

When Lee returned to the counter, Kankuro saw his red face and tear stained cheeks and his eyes widened.

"Oh my god, did Gaara yell at you?!" Lee looked at him surprised and shook his head. "What happened?" Lee bit his lip but the smile on his face was there.

"I will tell you later." 

Kankuro was amazed to watch the calm façade Lee conjured to deal with one of the most annoying customers he'd ever seen. How was he able to be so... nice? Maybe this is why Temari told Kankuro he was on the drink station today and Lee was on the register. Kankuro felt envious of the control Lee had on his temper and how he just took verbal abuse with a smile and apologized to them as if they weren't the ones being irrational. Lee was just too much.

***

"So what had you smiling like that before?" Kankuro asked an hour later when the lunch rush was gone for the time being. Temari was back, having had to run an errand and was obviously inserting herself in the conversation.

"What happened?" Lee just smiled and shook his head.

"Gaara is very funny." They stared at him with disbelief. 

"Gaara made you laugh... so hard... you cried?" Kankuro asked incredulously and Temari shot them both a look.

"Yes." Was all Lee said and cleaned down the espresso machine while Kankuro and Temari shared a look.

***

The end of his shift came and Lee went into the bathroom and changed into his workout clothes. He packed his bag with all of his things and threw it over his shoulder, ready to go work out.

He walked into the kitchen and Gaara was leaned over with his head pressed against the metal workbench and his arms dangling uselessly at his sides.

"Gaara? What is wrong?" Lee asked with so much concern, Gaara actually felt the worry for his wellbeing. He moved his head up and pushed the lemon curd down the bench. Lee picked it up and mixed it. It was now 8 hours and it was still completely liquid. "Have you tried adding thickeners?" Gaara's eyes narrowed at the question and Lee figured that was a yes. "Which ones?"

"Cornstarch." Lee thought for a second.

"Xanthan gum?" Gaara stood up for a moment thoughtfully. 

"I'll try that I suppose." Lee smiled warmly at him.

"Well, I wish you luck. And I hope you actually sleep tonight." Gaara stared at Lee curiously. "I am going to run the track. If somehow you finish before I am done you are more than welcome to join me. If not, I will see you tomorrow morning." Gaara gave a tentative nod and Lee waved at him happily. "Goodbye Gaara."

***

Lee ran six miles and was dripping sweat. He couldn't fathom why he was having such a hard time running today. He kept looking over at the bleachers and felt a stab of disappointment. Was he really upset that Gaara hadn't been able to come?

Lee rubbed his face and jogged over to the football field in the middle of the track and decided to do some pushups and crunches. 

And he would deny it if anyone asked if the reason was he was stalling to see if Gaara would actually come.

***

The next day, Lee arrived at work and when he walked into the kitchen, Gaara wasn't there. He checked every room he could think of and frowned. Where was Gaara? 

He put his stuff down in the bathroom and walked out of the kitchen to start the opening process. It was a school day so he came in earlier and was only staying until 730. It was a 3 ½ hour shift but money is money and if he needed he could always come back.

When Lee looked up after turning on all the coffee brewers, he turned to face the lounge area.

There was Gaara, curled up on the couch with a small blanket, sleeping. Lee was shocked. What was Gaara doing there?

Lee slowly walked over, not wanting to startle him but he couldn't help but be so curious. Since the couch was in an alcove, Lee hadn't seen it until he was standing across from it. It was impossible to see this from the entrance as well so Lee couldn't help but wonder how often Gaara slept there. Was this normal? Weren't his siblings worried about him?

Lee knelt by the couch and stared at Gaara's peaceful expression. His hand reached and he wanted to wake him up but found he couldn't bring himself to do it. 

Gaara deserved sleep.

Lee walked back to the counter and made sure to make as little noise as possible. He didn't care if there weren't any pastries today. Gaara needed to sleep as much as he could. Poor thing. The whole thought of it made Lee's heart ache. 

Lee wished Gaara was up so he could ask him what was going on. A painful moment later, Lee realized that Gaara may not find that Lee was worth confiding in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please send in some more prompts! Enjoy the story!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: (half of it, anyway)
> 
> Maybe Naruto tries to apply but asks kankuro and gets denied but keeps bugging him until he says yes it better yet keeps bugging shikimaru  
> -Ki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. I haven't been doing very well but I'm trying. Enjoy!

Chapter six:

Temari came in a bit later and paused when she saw most of the morning bake wasn't done. Some things kept for 2 days so there was a couple of display items but everything that needed to be baked fresh every day was left undone. She sent a questioning look to Lee and Lee nudged his head and in Gaara's direction. She slowly walked towards the alcove and saw her brother asleep on the couch. 

Temari's heart felt heavy and she looked at the floor. She hoped Lee hadn't figured out why Gaara was sleeping there in the first place. Lee couldn't be that perceptive, could he?

"I am sorry, I have never seen him sleep so I did not want to wake him up." Lee admitted quietly and Temari nodded and walked into the back.

They were due to open in 20 minutes and Lee didn't know what to do. What was there to do? He couldn't bake anything. He walked into the kitchen to see Temari digging through fish tubs of all the morning bake items Gaara had premade and put in the freezer. The ovens were on and she had several trays lined up down the table. Lee didn't know how the morning bake was done. Everything was finished when he got in usually. He quickly joined Temari in traying out the important things. 

Temari was grateful Gaara made sure everything was well stocked. She had a 10 quart container of two different muffin batters that she started scooping onto the muffin tins while Lee trayed out several scones. They worked together quickly and efficiently and Temari glanced at the clock. They had to open in 5 minutes. The ovens preheated several minutes ago, but a lot of this took 20 minutes to bake. The first customers would have to get over it. 

Temari grabbed all of her dirty dishes and dumped them into the dish pit and opened a door Lee never noticed before on the opposite side of the kitchen. There was no reason he would've noticed it, it was deeper in the kitchen than he normally went. He heard her move around for a minute and she came out.

"Lee?" Lee stared at her with a such soft look, she could never feel like he could harm her brother. Which is why she asked "Do you think you can move Gaara back here? He needs to sleep. Don't worry, he's a heavy sleeper the rare times he actually sleeps." Lee blushed, but nodded anyway. He quickly washed his hands and walked to the couch where Gaara slept.

He really was a sight, wasn't he? Lee loved looking at him. He could never pinpoint his favorite feature Gaara had, he liked them all. Lee wondered what that meant. Lee leaned over and scooped Gaara up from the couch and held him close, following Temari to the back room.

The room was nothing Lee expected it to be. It was almost like... a bedroom? There was another couch, Temari seemed to have pulled it out into a bed though. There was a pipe that shot across the room with a few hangers that had clothes on it that Lee recognized to be Gaara's. What was this room?

Lee placed Gaara on the bed and tucked him in without thinking. Temari stood by the door, watching with a twinge of sadness and felt thankful Lee was there. It was way too early in the morning for Temari to be holding her 16 year old brother like a bride. Lee stared at Gaara for another moment and then seemed to realize she was there with him and quickly scurried out of the room with a blush. Temari stared at Gaara for another minute, really looking at him.

When had her brother become a man?

***

The early morning passed by with little trouble. The morning was slow enough that it didn't matter there weren't any baked goods for the first hour. Gaara still wasn't awake by then but Temari told Lee not to worry when she saw him passing glances every so often to the kitchen.

Soon enough it got too busy for Lee to spare Gaara a passing glance, which was fine. Lee was happy for the distraction and fell into an easy routine. Temari was happy that when she hired Lee he said he was a fast learner, and actually was a fast learner. It also helped that he was very caring over her little brother. Despite everything going on between them, she loved him dearly.

"Hey bushy brow!" Lee paused in the middle of making a drink too look up and see his two best friends making an appearance. "Whoa, talk about busy." Naruto laughed, seeing the line of marked cups waiting at Lee's side. There were at least seven. Lee was not having a good time.

"Hello Naruto! Hello Sasuke! What brings you in this morning?" Lee asked, holding the foam back with a spoon to get just the steamed milk out from the frothing pitcher. He slid the cup on the bar. "Flat white!" Lee grabbed the next cup, scanned the markings on it and began making the drink.

"Looking for a job! I heard you still needed a dishwasher." Naruto said with a grin and Lee gave him an uncomfortable look. He loved Naruto, he just didn't feel that putting Naruto with breakable dishes next to Gaara all day was good for anyone. 

"Well, if you would like to, you can go talk to Kankuro. He is not on the clock yet." Lee nudged his head over to the very end of the bar where Kankuro was lounging and playing on his phone. "It does not look like he is busy." Naruto gave him a grin and ran over to Kankuro to bother him. Lee gave Sasuke a look.

"I know. I hope he doesn't get the job either. That kid cannot handle any kind of responsibility." Sasuke said flatly and sat at the bar stool closest to the espresso machine to talk to Lee more.

"I would love for Naruto to get a job and learn responsibility. Nothing would make me happier. I just feel as though it should not be... here." Lee said as eloquently as he could and Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah you said it. I don't know why he wants to be a dishwasher anyway. Doesn't that job suck?" Lee shrugged, never have been a dishwasher. He wasn't sure of the parameters. 

"Are you looking for a job, Sasuke?" Lee asked and put the next drink on the counter. "Mad Max!" 

"Not really. I mean, Itachi pretty much does everything. Ever since our parents died, he just wants to have control over everything. I think if I got a job it would stress him out." Lee frowned.

"He is going to have to get over that eventually. You are not his baby forever." Lee teased and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I know that. He doesn't seem to want to accept it. Remember my 16th birthday party?" Lee held back a smirk. Everyone remembered Sasuke's 16th birthday party. "Yeah, so you're preaching to the choir, Lee. Let's not forget, if I even thought about dating, he'd probably implode in on himself. You know Itachi."

"He loves you!" Lee argued with a smile. "Some people would want nothing more than their brother's love!" Sasuke scowled.

"I don't think I would." Lee shook his head with a smile.

"That is because you have an ample amount of it. If you did not, I can promise you would want it." Lee said simply and put another drink on the counter. Sasuke was impressed with the speed of Lee's drink making skills. "Pot O' Greed!" 

"Come on! Please! I'm an AWESOME dish washer!" They heard Naruto shout and Kankuro glowered in Lee's direction and Lee smiled sheepishly. 

"Suppose I shouldn't have told him about Kankuro." Lee mused and started on the next drink. 

***

After Lee's shift, he was worried to notice Gaara never woke up. He wanted to check in on him but he wasn't close enough to Gaara to actually peek in the room and ask. Temari was glad for them to leave, now Naruto couldn't harass her or Kankuro anymore. 

Unfortunately, for Sasuke, the second they walked out of the café, Itachi was pulling in.

"Are you serious?' Sasuke groaned. "What the hell is he doing here? I drove myself."

Itachi got out of the car and Lee couldn't help but admire Itachi. He was tall and slender with a very easy on the eyes face. His hair was pulled back into a braid today. He was always in a business casual outfit. Probably from his office job, but Lee had seen him on his weekends and he dressed the same then too. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked as Itachi walked up to them. Itachi ignored him and flicked his forehead. Sasuke scowled.

"Itachi! Your new glasses look fantastic." Lee complimented and Sasuke glared at Lee, as if complimenting his brother was the worst thing he'd ever done.

"Thank you, Lee. I didn't know you would be here. Honestly I just stop here sometimes to get something sweet. You don't have to be embarrassed." Itachi's voice was always so gratingly calm, it got on Sasuke's nerves all the more.

"Yeah whatever." Sasuke crossed his arms and turned the other way. Itachi raised his eyebrow, Sasuke was always embarrassed to have him around, but this was ridiculous. 

"Did I do something to bother you, Sasuke?" Itachi asked slowly and Sasuke glared and stomped off. Itachi shook his head and sighed. "Look out for him, would you? I don't know what's been bothering him but he's been like this all week. It's starting to get... really annoying. It was nice seeing you." Itachi waved to Lee and Lee waved back. A few moments later Naruto stumbled out of the shop with a victorious grin.

"Hey, was that Itachi?" Lee nodded. "Ohh man!" He cackled. "I bet Sasuke is throwing a tantrum now!"

"Yes. What is Sasuke's problem anyway?" Lee asked and Naruto shrugged.

"Who the hell knows. Anyway, onto more important matters, you are now looking at a very employed best friend of yours! Well... I still have to ask Shikamaru but Kankuro told me to talk to him, which is as good as I got the job." Lee forced a smile. 

He wasn't looking forward to working with his friend. Naruto would be... interesting.

***

The school day seemed longer now that Lee worked right before school started. Lee wondered if he would see Gaara at all today.

The day was weird. Sasuke was having a hissy fit, which wasn't completely uncommon for him, it was just the way he was having it. Something was different about him and Lee knew it had something to do with Itachi. He just couldn't understand why.

Naruto seemed completely oblivious to the obvious moping Sasuke was doing and chatted his ear off each time they were around each other. Lee knew for sure something was wrong when Sasuke didn't even try to make a scathing remark or call him names. 

Lee frowned to himself and made it his mission to figure out what was bothering his friend.

"Hey guys!" Lee glanced up and his face warmed instantly. It was Sakura! Lee adored their friend Sakura. She never failed to bring a smile to his face! Well, there was the one time when he asked her out and she didn't react very well. To be fair she didn't say "no", just "ewww". Which honestly, still isn't a no. 

"Hello Sakura! How is your day so far?" Lee asked kindly, happy for the distraction from Sasuke's sour mood.

"My day is great, thanks. I heard you got a job. Congratulations, Lee! That is amazing for you. I know you really want to help your parents with their dojo. I know you can do anything you set your mind to!" Lee smiled gratefully and nodded his head at her kind words.

"Thank you, Sakura. Truly, that means a lot." She smiled softly in response and averted her attention to Sasuke and her smile faltered. "Do not ask. I do not know." Lee said simply and she sighed and shook her head. Lee could tell she was disappointed at Sasuke's mood, but honestly couldn't bring himself to care as much as he usually did. His mind was too preoccupied on his little red headed friend. Lee never knew he could miss just small interactions with someone. He looked forward to seeing Gaara at work, not seeing him was just... a bummer.

The bell rang and lockers were slammed all around them. Lee already had all of his books in his bag on his shoulder and waved to his friends. He was off to gym with Kankuro. Hopefully, he could ask how Gaara was doing.

***

Kankuro wasn't in school that day either. Lee was beginning to feel dejected at the lack of information. How was he supposed to concentrate in math if he didn't know how Gaara was? Lee rubbed his temple; he hadn't realized how bad his headache was getting until just now. At least school was almost over. He was going to ask Temari if she needed him at work today. This would give him the excuse to go check in on Gaara. 

"Man I can't believe we have to do a stupid project!" Naruto cried with a scowl. "I hate doing projects!"

"Who does?" Sasuke deadpanned and Naruto glared at him.

"So you finally talk." Naruto said blankly and Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked to his locker. "Man, what is his problem?"

"Little late to the party, Naruto." Lee laughed and walked to his own locker and glanced through his agenda to see what homework he had to remember the proper books to pack. 

"You going to work, Lee?" Naruto asked, no book-bag or books on his person.

"I will see if they need me." Lee said with a smile.

"Alright. I haven't gotten to talk to Shikamaru yet, so survive without me till then!" Lee tried his hardest not to laugh and quickly ran out of school. He had to weave in and out of the crowd and in--between busses. He rarely left school on time because of all the craziness that happened when people were trying to get home. Lee pushed open the door to the café and Shikamaru's face greeted him. 

"Hey Lee, since its Monday you really don't need to be here." Lee's face colored, if he couldn't work, how could he check on Gaara?

"Gaara is fine." Temari said, from one of the couches. "He's up and baking again. You can go say hello." Lee smiled thankfully at her and walked into the kitchen. 

Gaara was fine. He was making rugelach, which didn't look very fun to do. 

"Gaara! How are you?" Lee asked happily and Gaara glanced up curiously, but didn't speak. "I heard you were sleeping a lot today. I didn't see you in school and-"

"-You were worried?" Gaara half ended Lee's sentence and was half just curious. Lee smiled and nodded and Gaara tilted his head to the side. "There's no need to be worried about me."

"I will always worry about you." Lee said easily, not bothering to blush at the comment, he meant it. Plus, it was nice for Gaara to be the one to blush for a change.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Ki for all of your prompts!
> 
> This chapter's prompt: What happens if Lee tries to help gaara out with the baking but makes a fool of himself cuz he is so nervous?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a favorite of mine because at the end theres a bit of a hint as to Gaara's home life! Also tons of Lee and Gaara interaction! <3

Chapter Seven:

The week flew by without much incident. Lee hadn't worked much since there wasn't really any hours. Temari had him scheduled Friday morning, Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings. The rest of the week he was free unless they needed to call him in which was rare. Everyone that worked there was really good at getting there on time and not calling out.

By the time Saturday came around, Lee was so anxious to spend time with Gaara he couldn't keep himself calm all night Friday. Gaara didn't work Fridays it seemed so it was nice to see him longer than the few times they saw each other in the hallway. The other day Lee nearly melted at the sight of Gaara in the hallway with some flour on his cheek. He walked over to the younger male and brushed Gaara's cheek with his thumb. Gaara stared at him wide eyed and Lee just smiled sheepishly and mumbled "you had flour on your face" and walked off before he could embarrass himself any further. 

Lee strolled in a few minutes before 4:30 to get everything ready. Temari left him alone to open considering he knew how to do it now and she wasn't a fan of getting out of bed early anyway.

Lee rushed through the morning routine in order to garner a few minutes with his red headed friend. He brewed the 3 main coffees (light, dark, decaf) and turned on the lights and took the chairs off the tables. Gaara walked out of the kitchen with a tray of sweets and Lee couldn't help but grin at him. His heart fluttered at the sight of the neutral faced teen.

"Gaara! Good morning! How are you?" He asked enthusiastically and Gaara rubbed his eyes and shrugged.

"Could be better, I suppose. Can't complain, really." Lee rushed to the counter and leaned over it and watched Gaara fill the cake stands with assorted pastries. 

"They look amazing, Gaara." Lee complimented and Gaara paused, glanced over the pastries he was holding, grabbed the nicest cinnamon roll he had and handed it to Lee. "You didn't have to..." Lee's cheeks colored and Gaara looked at him and shrugged again.

"They're your favorite." He said simply and continued filling the pastry counter. Lee couldn't explain how that made him feel. His heart stuttered in his chest and for a second he didn't breathe, momentarily forgetting to. 

"Thank you, Gaara." Lee smiled shyly and bit into the warm cinnamon roll. The fact that Gaara remembered they were his favorite just made him so happy. 

***

By the time Temari came in, they were almost completely sold out of treats and Gaara was irritated. Lee didn't hear Gaara's entire rant but it was something along the lines of

"I feel like all I make anymore is fucking muffins"

The curse was new but it sent a shiver down Lee's spine. Why did Gaara cursing excite him? And just how many muffins did Gaara make all week?

Kankuro came in not too long after Temari to help with the breakfast rush. It surprised Lee since it was usually just him and Temari in the morning. Temari turned to Lee with a smile.

"Hey, think you can help Gaara out in the kitchen? He seems pretty stressed out." Lee's heart beat erratically and he forgot how to speak for a minute but when he finally found his voice, he was way too enthusiastic for it to seem normal.

"Yes! I will help him! Of course!" Temari smiled at him and he stood there awkwardly, turned red, and quickly made his way to the kitchen. Behind him Kankuro shook his head.

"Do you think Gaara knows he has an admirer?" Temari swat Kankuro on the shoulder and chuckled.

"If he doesn't know, he'll find out eventually..."

***

"Gaara! Temari told me I should assist you! Is there something I can do to help?" Gaara glanced up and looked back down at his list.

"I suppose if you want to you can help... I have to make more cinnamon rolls." Lee grinned; he wondered if this was a jab at him loving cinnamon rolls, or if it were merely a coincidence. 

"Yes of course! What should I do?" Gaara gave him the very simple task of heating up milk to a warm temperature and adding yeast. He said give the yeast 5 minutes and it should foam up and they can use it.

Simple enough, right? Apparently not.

"Why isn't my yeast rising?" Lee asked suddenly and Gaara stopped cutting butter and walked over to the cup and sniffed it.

"The milk was too hot and you killed the yeast." He said simply and went back to cutting the butter. Lee's face felt hot and he quickly dumped the milk, rinsed the cup, and tried again. 

The same result.

"I-I am so sorry, Gaara. I killed the yeast again." Lee felt mortified. Gaara looked back up and then walked over to a drawer and pulled out a thermometer.

"Heat the milk up to 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit." Turns out it was a lot harder to do than Lee thought. Where one side of the pot it was at the correct temperature, the other side was 120 degrees. 

Lee was becoming increasingly frustrated and humiliated that he couldn't even heat milk up to the right temperature. He didn't know how Gaara even put up with him ruining yeast 4 separate times.

Finally the fifth time he got it right and tried not to feel proud, but he did. More embarrassed than proud, but proud nonetheless. Gaara nodded at him and was finally able to make the dough. Once the dough was ready, he greased a bowl and plopped the dough in and put it in the proofer and set a timer for an hour. Lee really hoped he didn't embarrass himself more...

***

Turns out, he could.

Gaara told Lee to roll out the cinnamon roll dough, spread butter on it, then sprinkle a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon. Then after that, cut them with the bench scraper and put them in a pan to proof.

"Lee." Gaara said, looking down at the rolls. Lee looked up, on his second round of dough. "Why are the cinnamon rolls... lacking cinnamon?" Lee glanced over, then back down at the dough he rolled up and groaned. 

"I am so sorry. I forgot to put the cinnamon sugar in." Lee's face couldn't be more red and he felt pure humiliation in his bones. He messed up 6 times already! "I will unroll each of them individually and fix them! I am so sorry, Gaara. I will do better!" Gaara looked at him with a brow raised, then looked back at the butter rolls. 

"Don't bother. I'll make do with these." He picked up the pan and put it in front of his work station.

"B-but Gaara! I will fix it! It is my fault." Lee was mortified and even more so when he realized he was shaking. Gaara looked at him and with the most earnest face he could muster said,

"Lee. It's fine. I will use them. Part of being a good chef in any instance isn't not making mistakes, its fixing mistakes. Besides, I've been wanting to try doing something new for a while and now... I have the chance. It's fine. Calm down." Lee frowned but didn't say anything and slowly unrolled his unsugared cinnamon roll dough, silently thanking whomever was out there that he didn't cut these ones already too.

Lee watched with interest as Gaara examined the cinnamon rolls. He took them out one by one, thankfully one roll of dough only produced 8 rolls. He unfurled them on the table and greased the pan and rolled them thinner and added them to the pan. He reached into the refrigerator and pulled out some pie fillings and spread a thin layer on the bottom layer, and repeated. In the end it looked like a dessert lasagna. It was four layers, he needed 2 rolls per layer. He then looked up at Lee and smiled slightly.

"See? It's fine. Four berry dessert lasagna. Raspberry, strawberry, blackberry and cherry." Lee smiled softly at Gaara's attempts to cheer him up. He was thankful.

***

"How is it going in here?" It was Temari's first time in the kitchen since Lee came back two hours ago. She walked to the fridge and pulled out several cartons of half-and-half. 

"It's going well." Gaara said simply and Lee looked at him surprised. Well? Lee messed up more times in an hour than Gaara probably ever had.

"Good! Maybe Lee could come back and help you more often!" Temari teased and Gaara nodded simply.

"That's fine with me." Lee's heart thudded in his chest and he held his breath. Why would Gaara want to work with him? He was doing terribly.

"Awesome. Lee, you're welcome back up whenever you'd like. Right now we aren't busy but we may need you for the lunch rush." Temari left the kitchen and Lee bit the inside of his cheek.

"Why is it fine with you if I stay when I messed up so much?" He asked and Gaara stopped cracking eggs and turned his head to face Lee.

"How else are you to learn? You don't have any kitchen experience. I have plenty." He reasoned and went back to cracking eggs. "Besides..." He said, and Lee looked up at him but Gaara's head didn't turn. "I enjoy your company." Lee smiled warmly and stood next to Gaara to look at the list.

"What should I do next?"

***

"Gaara?" Gaara looked up to stare at Lee as he walked into the kitchen. It was now 1, which was the time Lee left. Temari tried to convince him to leave at 12, but Lee seemed to enjoy being there for whatever reason.

"Yes?" Gaara was dumping the contents of the mixing bowl into a 12qt cambro. 

"Um... Would you...Hm... Do you want..." Lee was fidgeting which was something he didn't normally do. It only got worse when Gaara looked up to gaze at him questioningly. What had him so nervous? "When you're done with work...would you like to do something? With me?" Gaara seemed confused at Lee's question. Why would he want to spend more time with him? They spent most of the day together. After the cinnamon roll mix up, Lee was too embarrassed to talk much so most of their work was done in a comfortable silence. 

"Do what?" Gaara asked blankly and pressed the lid on the cambro and started dating and labeling it with tape. 

"I... I don't know." Lee felt more embarrassed now than he did before. And he was so damn nervous! "Would you like to go for a walk with me?"

"A walk?" Gaara slid the cambro into the storage fridge and pulled off his black headband and stuffed it in his chef pants pocket. "Where to?" Lee pointed in a random direction, not really knowing where they were in correlation to the path he was referring to.

"T-the railtrail. Have you been on it yet? It's like 14 miles-not that we have to walk 14 miles. It's like a huge loop through this town and other neighboring towns. A lot of businesses put their signs on the path and just a few minutes off of the trail in any direction is a lot of places to shop and eat and stuff. You don't have to go if you don't want to. I mean, you've been working all day since who knows when so you probably don't want to walk right now which is okay, but I mean we could really do anything if you wanted to-"

"Lee. Stop." Lee closed his mouth tightly and bit his tongue. He couldn't help rambling. He wanted to talk to Gaara so badly he felt anxious and he was just nervous to talk to him. And he asked him out?? Well, not exactly on a date. Was it a date? Would Gaara consider it a date? Would he think Lee was asking him out on a date and get really weirded out and not talk to him anymore. "Lee, stop thinking too. You look like you're going to pass out." Gaara's deadpan voice pulled Lee out of his thoughts and right now he was too nervous to be mortified. "Sure, let me get changed and we can go."

Lee let out a long puff of breath and Gaara ran his fingers through his hair. He hated wearing a headband, it pushed his hair up funny and his forehead sweat and made his hair all greasy and gross. It wasn't like he was going somewhere special. They were just taking a walk. He didn't need to look immaculate. The weather was also supposed to be nice out today so maybe it would be good for him. A nice 64 degrees, perfect sweater weather.

Gaara walked to the door on the opposite end of the bathroom and closed it behind him. Lee immediately felt his forehead, he was sweating so bad, he was sure he had a fever. What made him so nervous about being around Gaara? Did he want to be his friend that badly?

Lee went to the bathroom and changed his shoes to his running shoes and removed his hat and apron. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. He knew he wasn't very cute, his eyes too wide, his eyebrows to thick, his body was lanky no matter how hard he worked out. He wondered if anyone would ever like him. 

He shook his head and got himself out of those thoughts. He wasn't sure what had him so down on himself right now. Who was he trying to impress? Gaara? Lee's face heated up and he felt a shiver down his spine. No. Certainly not Gaara.

Lee ran his fingers through his hair and made sure it was okay looking. Honestly though, how do you mess up a bowl cut? When he was a least slightly satisfied, he grabbed his green windbreaker jacket and walked out of the bathroom.

***

Gaara stared around the room and fingered through all of the clothes hanging from the pipe. He really didn't have anything good to wear. He didn't have many clothes. With a frown, Gaara removed his checkered pants and put them into his laundry bag and pulled on a pair of gray sweatpants and his comfortable maroon pullover. He had a small mirror and took his brush and tried to tame his hair but no matter what he did, it stuck out haphazardly in every direction. He sighed and grabbed his green beanie and put it over his head. He stared at himself for a minute and thought about the temperature. Was it cold enough for this hat? Was this hat being too dramatic? He exhaled deeply and tugged the hat off. Whatever. Messy hair it was. 

He put on his old shoes. He only had two pairs. One work pair and one everyday pair. He silently wondered when his father would allow him to get new clothes and new shoes. He stared at his bedroom a final time and closed the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses on what's going on with Gaara? 
> 
> Send in your prompts! They make writing so much easier!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know I love my prompts but this chapter had no room for any of the prompts I had. If anyone wants a date prompt, please send it in!

Chapter Eight:

 

When Gaara saw Lee standing in the kitchen waiting for him, he wondered if Lee would bring up the fact that there was another room and what was its purpose. Lee didn't and Gaara didn't know if he was thankful or not. With everything going on still heavy in his mind, he thinks he would've liked someone to talk to about it. However, in the same regard, Gaara didn't like nosiness so he wondered if he would've been put off by Lee's question. Gaara sighed and made his way to Lee. Lee smiled at him warmly.

"Ready to go?" Lee prefaced, and held the kitchen door open for Gaara. Gaara walked through the doors and glanced around at the front of the house and saw Temari and Shikamaru were bickering in the corner and Kankuro was playing on his phone in front of the espresso machine. It was surprisingly dead for a Saturday afternoon.

Kankuro jerked his gaze from his phone long enough to notice Gaara walking towards the exit with Lee.

"Hey! Where ya guys going?" He asked and Gaara stared at him.

"For a walk." He said simply and Lee smiled at him and opened the next door for him too, like a gentleman. Kankuro watched them fall into a steady rhythm walking next to each other and chuckled to himself. He wondered how much longer until one of them said something to the other.

***

"This is an entrance of the railtrail! It is very cool that it is so close to your family's business because people walking through will be able to see signs for your café and get off the trail to go stop by. It is very good for business, especially in the summer time." Lee explained happily and Gaara nodded at the information.

They walked side by side for a while. Both were completely lost in thought and trying to make conversation by finding it harder than they thought.

What should I say? What is there to talk about? Baking? School? Would Gaara appreciate these topics or is he so bored of them from being around them all day? Should I ask about the other day? No! That is not something to bring up. If he wanted to talk to me about that, he would have already. I just wish I could figure out what he wanted to talk about! Lee thought with a slight frown of his lips.

I've never really had a friend before so I have no idea what I'm doing. What does Lee like to talk about? Well... It's Lee. He'll ramble about anything, really. Why did he invite me on this walk? I don't even know what to say. Is this silence awkward? Am I being awkward? I wish I had any social experience whatsoever. I'll just stay quiet until Lee finds something to ramble about. Gaara silently decided and stared at the ground and watched his feet make each step. 

The air was nice on their faces. It was so warm standing in front of the oven all day, it was nice to get out into fresh air. Gaara never sought out to take a walk, but he found it nice walking with Lee. He wondered if they'd do it again after this or if this would be such a failure, they wouldn't want to walk together again.

"Well it's October 15th. Its autumn, my favorite season. When I was seven years old I would wait until autumn came and I would bug my dad and Kakashi to bring me to the farm, in the next town over. They had so much bales of hay, they created tunnels the kids could play in and they decorated it all with pumpkins. I could spend hours crawling through there, I had so much fun! My dad and Kakashi made it a tradition to bring me every year from then on and it was great, until I outgrew it. Sometimes the thought still bums me out. Do you have an autumn tradition?" Lee asked and Gaara absorbed his story and felt the positive energy from it. 

"Um..." Gaara narrowed his eyes in thought. Did he have a tradition? "For most of my life, around autumn when the leaves changed color, I would collect the first leaf that I saw fall and I would tape it onto my wall. I had leaves from when I was three." Gaara's story was sweet, but Lee felt weird hearing it. As though it weren't a happy story.

"Do you still do it?" Lee asked and Gaara shook his head. "When did you stop?" Gaara didn't know what he was thinking. How could he talk about his father to someone who was nearly a stranger? But, Lee wasn't a stranger. He was... safe. He was one of the only people Gaara met that he wasn't wary of. Lee couldn't be underhanded if he tried. So Gaara took in a deep breath.

"I moved and they all stayed behind." Gaara told himself if Lee asked for more information he would give it willingly but for whatever reason, he couldn't bring the words out.

"That is so sad, I am so sorry. Why did you not bring them with you?" Lee asked and Gaara's heart thudded in his chest. If he answered that, would Lee have more questions? Would Gaara be able to answer them?

"My... father ripped them off my wall and set them on fire." Gaara said quietly and Lee's steps faltered and he stopped. Gaara stopped to turn to Lee and Lee looked heartbroken.

"Why would he do that? You had them for so long." Lee needed to keep his emotions out of this conversation or it was going to become very passionate. 

"I'm honestly not entirely sure myself." Gaara admitted and continued walking. It took a moment for Lee to collect himself but he started walking and caught up to Gaara.

"I am sorry that happened to you. I have never seen your father. Is he here?" Gaara's blood felt like ice in his veins. 

"Yes." The shortness of the answer told Lee all he needed to know. Don't talk anymore about this subject. Got it. The feeling gave Lee immense sadness. Gaara didn't seem to have a good relationship with his dad. Lee didn't know what he'd do if he didn't have a good relationship with his parents.

"We should give you a new autumn tradition. I think we both need it." Lee said with a smile and Gaara perked a brow and Lee began to walk with more purpose.

***

"An apple orchard?" Lee nodded enthusiastically. "Why?"

"To go apple picking! Have you ever been? I know you lived in the desert." Gaara shook his head. "I'm so happy to bring you for your first time!"

"Why would people want to walk around and pick apples?" Gaara asked and Lee took it in stride.

"Because it is fun. Let us go!"

Lee brought Gaara to the farm entrance and the wonderful smell of cider filled the air. Lee wanted to show Gaara everything good about the autumn season to try to replace the bad memory with more good ones. 

The two walked into the small shop and Lee bought two hot ciders and two apple cider donuts. Gaara tried to chip in some money but Lee pushed his wallet away and paid for everything himself. Gaara pinkened slightly but said nothing. He thanked Lee after receiving the drink and donut and they walked outside to where the wagons were stored. Nearly all of the wagons were rusted and made really annoying squeaking noises when the wheels moved but Lee insisted that was part of the experience of picking your own fruits and vegetables. Gaara shrugged and they dragged it to a nearby table and sat down to eat their donuts. The area was damp because of the rainy weather the past few days but everything was fine.

"They are so warm." Lee sighed happily. "I love fresh donuts." Gaara looked at Lee thoughtfully, but said nothing. "Do you like your donut?" Gaara nodded and took a sip of his cider. 

He had to admit he liked the taste. He wondered if he could convince Temari to get some for the shop or if it would be too late in the season. Gaara then remembered the large order of pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree they were waiting on and frowned. He was going to have to make a lot of pumpkin treats in the next few weeks. They'd already been asked about it several times. He didn't see what the big deal was. Apple cider was more to his liking. They should increase their apple pastries.

Once they were done, Lee stood up and picked up his drink and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. He grabbed the wagon handle and looked at Gaara.

"Are you ready to go?" Gaara nodded and grabbed his own drink and both of them headed off into the orchards. The wagon was difficult to pull, getting stuck in the thick muddy dirt, but Lee was happy for it anyway.

Gaara didn't realize there would be so many different kinds of apples. Also, there were a lot of fall vegetables and even concord grapes. Gaara wasn't particularly a fan of concord grapes, they were much too sweet, but Lee was thrilled.

They walked through several rows of apple trees and Lee exclaimed in happiness. Gaara glanced at the sign and it read Snapdragon.

"These are amazing!" Lee climbed up the tree and started picking the apples he thought looked the best. Gaara stood at the base of the tree and looked up. Lee dropped a few apples down into Gaara's hands and Gaara began stuffing the bag they got. Lee kept giggling and climbed higher in the tree.

Gaara began to get curious. He'd never climbed up a tree before. Watching Lee do it was fascinating. He was so nimble and he got so high up so quickly. Soon Lee sat at the top of the tree and looked down at Gaara.

"Come up here! It is a nice view!" Gaara pursed his lips to the side in thought and grabbed hold of the lowest branch and began pulling himself up. 

It took Gaara longer than Lee to get up the tree. He was very slow and careful with his movements, whereas Lee just essentially sprinted up the tree. Gaara made it halfway and he was able to see Lee more clearly. Lee was beaming down at him with his wonderful grin. 

Was it normal for that grin to make Gaara's heart thud heavily in his chest? Or was that just a side effect of tree climbing?

Lee helped Gaara once he could reach him and pulled him up to the top. Gaara hugged the top of the tree more than Lee did, he was just leaning on it slightly. Gaara peeked out of the leaves and they were able to see down the rows of trees into the beautiful lake on property. It sparkled in the sunlight. Despite it not being very bright outside because of the gloominess of the weather lately, the lake looked lovely. The smell in the air was damp wet air and it was such a nice smell. Lee loved the smell of a rainy day. He looked over at Gaara and smiled softly.

Parts of Gaara's face were illuminated by the sun that was able to stream through the holes in the leaves. The foliage behind him was so green it was nearly translucent and made his red hair stand out stunningly. One of his eyes was hit by the sunlight and since Lee was so close to him, he could really see the deep aqua color he loved so much. Lee fumbled with his phone in his pocket discreetly and once his camera was activated, he snapped a candid picture. When he looked at the screen, he couldn't help the smirk on his lips. Gaara looked just as perfect in the picture as he had right in front of him. 

Gaara looked at Lee questioningly and Lee grinned widely and showed Gaara the picture he took. Gaara slowly grabbed Lee's phone and stared at the picture in wonder.

"Why did you take this?" Gaara asked after a few moments of contemplation.

"You looked perfect and I had to capture it." Lee admitted and felt embarrassed at his wording. Gaara looked up at him in amazement. Perfect? No one had ever described him that way. He wasn't perfect. Gaara was the most flawed person he knew. It was almost... amazing to think that Lee thought he looked perfect. 

Gaara looked back down at the phone and scanned the picture, trying to look at himself through Lee's eyes. When Gaara saw the picture he didn't see perfection. He saw the red hair no one else in the family had. He saw his mother's eye color and his father's eye shape. He saw the flaws of his skin and the scar he had on his jaw from his fight with his dad. He saw the heavy bags under his eyes. Gaara wasn't perfect. Why would Lee think he was? 

Without another word, Gaara handed Lee his phone back and he saw Lee smile at the picture before he slid it back into his pocket. Gaara wondered why the action made him feel as warm as it did.

Lee picked another apple and bit into it making a noise of delight. He handed Gaara the same apple and Gaara stared at it for a moment and then grabbed it from Lee's grasp. Gaara took a tentative bite to the other side of the apple, where Lee hadn't bitten and found himself pleasantly surprised at the taste of the apple. It was ridiculously sweet and super crisp. It was delicious. Gaara took another bite and handed it back to a happy looking Lee.

They shared the entire apple sitting up in the tree and Gaara found himself examining Lee more closely now. Lee's hair was always super straight, without blemish, unlike his own. However, now Lee's hair was tousled and there was a twig or two stuck in his hair. He had juice from the apple on the corner of his mouth, and he continued to eat even the core of the apple. Gaara thought that was odd, but didn't say anything. Lee pulled up the hood to his windbreaker and a few strands of his hair curled out of the hood. His jacket wasn't zipped up all the way and Gaara could see the top of his collarbones. His neck wasn't ridiculously skinny, but it was slender. Gaara could see his hair curling around his neck. Lee held the stem of the apple, the only part he didn't eat, and his eyes were filled with mirth. Gaara shook his head with a smile on his lips and took a picture of Lee before Lee could even tell what he was doing.

"You took my picture?" Lee asked and Gaara nodded with a slight smirk. "Why?" He asked and Gaara tapped on the picture icon to show Lee and handed him the phone.

"Because you look perfect." Lee's eyes softened at the statement and he looked at the picture. Lee didn't want to think of any flaws he had, he just wanted to look at a picture that through Gaara's eyes, was perfect. 

***

After picking an obscene amount of apples, the two walked through the muddy path between rows of trees. Gaara was getting annoyed with the bag of apples that kept toppling over and spilling the apples all over the wagon.

"Lee, why did we pick so many apples?" He asked and Lee laughed.

"Because picking apples is fun!" Gaara frowned at the bag but said nothing to object. Lee stopped the wagon and Gaara almost tripped over it, surprised by the sudden stop. Lee picked up the bag of apples that was so full, they couldn't tie it, and motioned for Gaara to sit in the wagon. Gaara went to argue but Lee insisted that he sit down. Gaara quickly sat in the wagon and Lee placed the bag between his legs to prop it up. It was kind of uncomfortable because the sides of the wagon were digging into his legs and he had to hug the big bag of apples to ensure they wouldn't move, but it was a funny sight for Lee and Lee snapped another picture of Gaara sitting in the wagon, hugging a bag of apples. Gaara wasted no time and took a picture of Lee pulling the wagon along in retaliation. 

They were almost back to the farm itself to pay for the apples when something caught Lee's sight. Lee held up one finger in a "wait a minute" fashion and walked over a few yards and leaned down and picked something up. He walked back over to Gaara and handed it to him. Gaara looked at it and it was a red leaf, nearly the color of his hair. It was probably an oval shaped leaf originally but it was slightly ripped so it looked like a lopsided heart. Gaara stared up at Lee as he picked up the wagon handle.

"You can start a new wall if you'd like. I just thought that was a nice leaf." Lee grinned at Gaara and Gaara looked down at the leaf again and couldn't help but smile.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mainly Gaara, there's a few times when it's Lee but Gaara's thoughts are more prominent in this chapter. 
> 
> I didn't mean for all of this drama to happen so suddenly but the chapter kind of wrote itself so I allowed it.
> 
> This chapter contains lots of angst and depressive thoughts.
> 
> This chapter is also 2 pages longer than the other chapters! Yay

Chapter 9:

 

Lee wound up having to buy two separate, sturdy bags to carry the apples. They had so much fun picking them but forgot they walked there and didn't have a wagon to drag them home. Luckily there were bags that could go over both shoulders like a backpack so it wasn't incredibly difficult. Lee thought Gaara looked positively adorable wearing a bag like that. He supposed Gaara could do anything and he would find it adorable though.

"What are we doing now?" Gaara asked, breaking the comfortable silence as they walked down the trail. 

"That depends on you, Gaara. Are you hungry? I know we ate a lot of apples but are you hungry for some savory food?" Gaara considered it and nodded. "Then we shall go get some food."

***

Lee and Gaara wound up getting pizza in town. Gaara insisted on paying since Lee paid for everything else and Lee relented finally and let Gaara pay for it. 

Gaara wanted to pay for the pizza, even though he knew he shouldn't. He didn't have much money, truthfully. He knew Temari and Kankuro got paid for working but he didn't. His father owned the building and was in charge of payroll. He'd told Gaara the fact that he was letting him stay in a building he owned was payment enough. Gaara didn't disagree. Fighting with his father his entire life had just worn down his confidence and self-worth. Gaara didn't press matters on payment because he did believe he owed his father more than even that. So he worked all the time and occasionally he got money. He never knew why, just sometimes there would be money in his account, never more than $100 and it was rare enough to be a surprise each time. He suspected Temari had some hand in it. 

The pizza was only $12 and he had $15 in his account which means he had $3 until he would mysteriously get money again. He hoped if he worked hard and kept pushing out things for the business to sell, his father would see some sort of worth in his work but it hasn't really happened yet. He also hadn't seen his father in at least 3 weeks, not that he was complaining. Rasa had some complex where he wouldn't let Gaara go a moment without an insult when he was around. Nothing was good enough. 

"Are you ok?" Lee asked quietly and Gaara jerked his head up. He didn't notice he zoned out looking at his pizza until the weird looks from Lee.

"Oh. I'm fine." Gaara blinked a few times, trying to get himself out of a daze.

"Would you like something to drink?" Gaara was embarrassed suddenly. He bought the pizza but nothing to drink for Lee. He couldn't afford two drinks, he didn't think.

"Oh I didn't buy you anything to drink, sorry. What would you like?" Lee smiled softly at him.

"No, you paid for the pizza, drinks are on me. Are you thirsty?" Gaara was thirsty but he just felt so bad that he shook his head no. "Are you sure?" A nod. "Okay." Lee got up and went to the cooler to pick his drink. Gaara let his focus move down to his pizza slice. His mouth was so dry. Maybe he could go to the bathroom and drink water from the faucet? He didn't want to ask the counter for a cup of tap water since he told Lee he wasn't thirsty already. He didn't want Lee to think he lied, or know he lied, rather. 

Lee approached the table and put two bottles of apple cider down with a smile.

"I know you said you were not thirsty but who is not thirsty for apple cider? I mean hot apple cider is delicious, but cold apple cider is so refreshing. I hope you do not mind." Lee's smile was so warm, how could someone be as sweet as Lee was? Gaara wasn't sure why he felt so emotional all of a sudden but made sure that none of it showed on his face.

"I don't mind. I appreciate the thought. Thank you." Lee grinned and opened his own bottle and drank. 

Gaara stared at his drink for a while before opening it. His heart hammered in his chest. He glanced at Lee, who seemed completely oblivious to his attention, and examined him. Lee was such a beacon of pure good energy. Everything about him was just... good. Gaara couldn't think of any other person who would do what Lee did for him today, he wondered if Lee even realized how thankful he was for it all. 

***

"This may be cliché, but I had a really great time with you today, Gaara. I really hope we can do this again." Lee's smile could calm a raging bull, Gaara decided.

"I did too. Thank you for taking time from your day to spend it with me." Lee seemed confused at the wording.

"Gaara, really. It was a pleasure. Thank you for joining me, I know how busy you are. Today meant a lot to me. Thank you." Gaara's cheeks colored a bit and he looked down at his feet, his shoes made him frown. They were coming apart. He hoped he could get new ones before anyone noticed. "Would you like me to drop you off at home instead of here? I have my dad's car today." 

Lee noticed Gaara's face blanch and wonder what he said wrong.

"I-I'm sorry, did I say something?" Gaara shook his head.

"No. You're fine. Here is fine. I need to get back to work. Thank you Lee. I'll see you later." Gaara rushed inside, leaving a very confused and upset Lee staring through the glass, watching him disappear into the kitchen. 

***

It was 2 in the morning and Gaara still couldn't sleep. Instead, he was thinly slicing apples and very intricately placing them in a pie crust. It took 35 minutes to place them all neatly to look like a giant rose in the crust but he had all the time in the world. 

Gaara was deep in thought, just thinking about Lee. That's all that occupied his mind lately. It was the only thing interesting enough in his life to be worth thinking about. Lee.

Lee. Lee. Lee.

Gaara's lips were pressed in a straight line, he increasingly got upset. He couldn't handle his emotions today. Normally he could be completely straight faced and stoic and be fine. Yesterday had been an emotional roller coaster for him. Gaara tried really hard not to think about his father too much, but he'd thought of him several times and it just got worse. 

Temari warned him that Rasa would be making an appearance here today. There was absolutely no reason for him to show up. Temari had everything under control, Rasa just didn't want to let go. Or maybe he just wanted to show up to make Gaara miserable. Temari loved her father, so did Kankuro. They loved him to death, but even they were confused why Rasa treated Gaara like the scum on his shoe. 

In a way they understood. Not to the degree their father treated him, never that. They understood Rasa didn't love Gaara like he loved them because their mother died during childbirth. That still didn't mean he should take it out on Gaara his whole life.

For the first time ever, Gaara placed his knife down and came to the realization.

He was depressed. He was so depressed it ached, it hurt his body, it made him unable to sleep, it gave him these evil thoughts in his mind telling him to do things he didn't want to. Or did he?

Lee helped though. Gaara knew that if someone is depressed, they shouldn't rely too much on a person for their happiness, if at all. He knew that if someone was depressed they needed to fix it themselves and not have someone else do it. However, with Lee, it was almost like the feelings of inadequacy didn't exist. He was just a normal boy that didn't stay up all night working in a bakery because he couldn't sleep. He wasn't so unloved by his father he was forced to sleep in a storage room in said bakery because his father couldn't stand the sight of him. He wasn't trying so hard to cover up all the bad memories his father created so vividly in his mind. 

When Lee was around, it was unimportant. When Lee was around, Gaara didn't remember the abuse he faced all his life. Gaara didn't remember how even though he was isolated in a different building than his entire family, it was still better than being in his father's house where he never felt wanted or safe. When Lee was around, Gaara was a person. He wasn't less than one like he felt, he was an actual person that had feelings that mattered.

With his heart thudding painfully in his chest, Gaara realized he missed Lee. He missed Lee so badly it hurt. Why? Why did he feel like this?

Dozens of loud thoughts raced through Gaara's mind so quickly that he couldn't separate them to realize what each individual thought was. Gaara's chest tightened and it was hard to breath. He couldn't focus and with a burst of anger, he grabbed his pie and threw it against the wall. It splattered and apple slices slid over the floor, thick in cinnamon sugar juice, some were still stuck to the wall. Gaara grabbed another pie, and another, and another. He threw all of them. When he was done, he was panting heavily and he fell to his knees with a loud thud. He leaned down, putting his forehead to the floor and slammed his fist down to the floor, trying to release the rest of his anger.

He had a crush on Lee.

***

When Lee came in that morning, Gaara was still cleaning up the pies he threw. There was only a bit left, so it didn't look to bad when Lee saw it, he had no idea Gaara had been cleaning for two hours. 

"Good morning Gaara! How are you today?" Lee said happily and waved. Gaara paused what he was doing and looked over at Lee. 

Gaara could see Lee's teeth sparkle with how much his teeth were showing in his grin. His face was covered by the shadow of his hood, Gaara loved how the hoodie looked on him, and more so, loved when Lee wore green, it was such a nice color on him. 

"Gaara? Are you ok?" When Gaara blinked himself back to reality, he rubbed his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry. Morning." Lee frowned and Gaara didn't like the look on his face.

"Were you unable to sleep?" Gaara nodded curtly and Lee looked sad.

"I am sorry... Hey, you can sleep over at my house if you would like to!" Gaara felt a chill run though his body.

"What? Why?" Lee laughed.

"Well sometimes people are uncomfortable where they are, like for example, I cannot sleep when I am at Naruto's house. I am pretty sure it is haunted or something so I cannot fall asleep. Maybe you just need a change of scenery. It will be fun! I have sleepovers with Naruto and Sasuke all the time. We can watch a movie, eat some popcorn, I also am very good at making smoothies. I will make you one if you would like!" Gaara was full on trembling now.

"I... I'll think about it." In no way shape or form was Gaara comfortable sleeping at Lee's house. After discovering he had romantic feelings for Lee, he couldn't be alone in a bedroom with him. Gaara wasn't even sure what they would do. He'd never really learned about couples. His father always told him no one would want to be with him and he'd be alone for the rest of his life so he gave up on seeking out any type of companionship. It didn't help that he still closed his eyes during sex scenes on T.V and anything remotely sexual made him incredibly uncomfortable. 

All that is to say that Lee even reciprocated the feelings Gaara had. What if he didn't? Where would Gaara stand after that? 

"Are you sure it is just being tired?" Lee asked with his voice brimming with concern. 

"I have a lot on my mind is all. I'll be ok." Gaara went back to scrubbing the floor and Lee walked into the bathroom to put his things down. Gaara took a long deep breath and held it for a minute before letting it out slowly. His nerves were all frazzled. Where did this crush come from? He just met the guy a few weeks ago.

Maybe he was just so starved for attention he would fall for anyone who gave it to him.

Gaara shook his head. It couldn't be that way. He went back to scrubbing and before he knew it, Lee was on his knees by his side scrubbing the floor too. Gaara gave him a surprised look and Lee just smiled sweetly and didn't say anything and helped Gaara clean the floor. Gaara looked at his hands and put more effort into cleaning trying to ignore the warm feeling he had in his cheeks.

***

"Hello! Welcome to Just Desserts-" Lee was cut off by the man's hand in the air doing a simple "stop" movement. 

"Yes I know. I'm the owner." He said gruffly and Lee's cheeks pinkened and he bowed his head.

"I apologize, sir. It is great to meet you. I am Rock Lee." Lee introduced and held out his hand politely. Rasa took it and gave it a shake and that's when Temari came out from the kitchen.

"Hey dad. Are you ready to go over numbers?" He nodded and she opened a drawer and pulled out a clipboard and grabbed a plate. "Anything you want?" Rasa gazed over at all of the pastries and Lee couldn't help but notice the slight scowl.

"Do you have anything the demon didn't make?" He asked and Lee's eyes widened a fraction and he felt that in his heart as if it were a personal attack on himself. 

"Um..." Temari looked through the pastries without batting an eye and picked up one of the croissants. "Our other baker makes these." She handed him the plate and he grunted and walked to one of the tables.

"Temari...?" Lee gave Temari a look of concern. Temari frowned at him, shook her head and walked to the table. Lee had no idea what that meant so he looked to Kankuro. Kankuro sighed.

"Dad and Gaara don't get along." He responded quietly. Lee's frown deepened and he looked over at Rasa whom was immersed in the discussion with Temari. 

"What happened? Was it recent?" Lee couldn't help but ask, he knew it was nosy and he shouldn't ask, especially to someone other than Gaara, but the thought that Gaara didn't have a good home life hurt his heart.

"No. It's always been that way." Kankuro pursed his lips as if in thought. He was trying to weigh the pros and cons of discussing Gaara's personal life with Lee. He knew Gaara would be furious so he probably shouldn't tell him, but he wasn't sure that Gaara would say anything on his own. Before Kankuro could make up his mind, Rasa rose up from his seat and Temari hopped up from hers, seemingly trying to stop him but he marched into the kitchen with a scowl on his face. "Oh not again..." Kankuro rubbed his temples and Temari ran into the kitchen behind Rasa. 

"What is going on?" Lee started walking towards the kitchen door and Kankuro grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"I promise you, you don't want to do that." Lee looked at the door, slightly desperately and stopped trying to move towards it. Kankuro looked around and saw that they didn't have any customers so quickly locked the door and put up a temporary closed sign "Back in 15 minutes" which he didn't want to do, but he knew it wasn't going to be good for business if customers heard a fight in the kitchen.

There was a loud clattering noise, Temari shouted "Dad!" and Lee couldn't stop himself from running into the kitchen. When he saw blood on Gaara's face, he couldn't control the gasp that came out.

***

Gaara glanced at the remaining things on his list for the day.

• Vanilla Cake batter  
• Italian Buttercream  
• Pumpkin muffin batter  
• Order cake prep  
• Process bananas  
• S'mores Bars

He sighed at the list. He hated doing special order cakes. He walked over to the order book to look over any other specifications. "Happy Birthday Orochimaru! (in green) snake on cake?" Gaara sighed. He hated the little question marks the front of house put on the order sheets. Did "snake on cake?" mean "can you make a snake and put it on the cake?" or did it mean "maybe he wants a snake on the cake and I don't know?" Just put the damn order down the way the customer wants it. Even so, Gaara rubbed his temples, that meant the cake needed fondant. He was sure he could get away with piping a snake but he wasn't sure if it would stay how he wanted it on the cake. Plus, it was hard to pipe details. Fondant it was.

"What the fuck." Gaara looked up from the order book in confusion and saw his father. Gaara's heart sank at the sight of him. He wondered what Rasa was angry about now. "Have you seen the waste from the pastries you make? Do you know how much money we lost this passed month?" Gaara frowned, they barely had any waste, unless he meant the cake someone ordered and never picked up so had to be thrown away. "This is precisely the reason I didn't want you working here. You can't bake for shit and now we're losing profit because you don't know how to do your damn job."

Gaara accepted his words on the outside but inside he was steaming. If there was one thing Gaara was proud of, it was his skills in the kitchen. He worked hard for them. He's put nothing but blood and sweat into this position for literally no income and his father wants to say they lost money? That was impossible. They're doing nothing but gaining profit for each pastry sold considering they didn't pay anyone to make them. There was the other baker that was there once a week but she only did a few things that Gaara didn't like to do, like croissants. His always came out weird. Everything else was stuff he did for free. Gaara bit his cheek, trying his best to hold his tongue. He didn't notice Temari come in the room and when he looked up at Rasa he noticed how angry he looked. Why was he so angry?

"Don't ignore me, you monster!" He hissed and grabbed Gaara by the collar of his chef jacket and threw him against the shelving that held all of the bowls and cambros and everything collapsed over and fell on him. The stainless steel bowl hit him in such a way that it cut open the top of his head and blood ran down his face. It probably wasn't even a bad cut, but cuts on the head hurt the worst.

"Dad!" He heard Temari rush to his side and push the bowls off him and helped him up. Gaara was breathing heavily, his head was throbbing in pain and when he tried opening his left eye he got blood in it and it started to sting. When he heard a gasp he looked up and saw Lee. His wonderful Lee was there. 

Gaara's vision got very tunneled and he saw stars if he opened his eyes for too long. He looked at his father, prepared to say something, anything, and fainted.

"Gaara!" Lee shoved Rasa out of the way to get to Gaara and he picked him up and glared at Rasa. He had so many things he wanted to say and his cheeks puffed up and flushed but all he managed was "I recant my pleasantries!" and stormed out of the kitchen with Gaara in his arms. 

"What the fuck, dad?" Temari cried before Rasa could say anything to Lee for rudeness of his boss.

"I want that kid fired."

"No." Temari said sternly. "I want you out of here. I do all of the hard work for this business. You aren't making me fire my best employee because he cares about someone you don't like." Temari scoffed at him and stormed out of the kitchen. "You can clean that up too, dad!" She yelled from the other room.

***

Lee had placed Gaara on the couch in the lounge area and was dressing his head wound when Temari came over.

"I do not know what made him hurt Gaara, but I do not like him." Lee said that as if it were the biggest insult he could throw and Temari gave a dry laugh. She supposed that was a big insult coming from the sweetest person she'd ever meet. "I think we should take Gaara to see a doctor. He could have a concussion." Lee sounded like he was talking more to himself than to Temari.

"Lee?" Temari said softly and touched his shoulder and he jerked it away from her. She saw how upset he looked. "Are you crying?"

"Yes!" Lee looked at her, his face red and a few tears running down his face. "I am very upset someone would hurt someone as sweet and kind as Gaara." Lee sniffled and turned back to Gaara and lightly dabbed the blood off his face. Every once in a while she would hear a tiny sniffle but other than that she couldn't tell he was crying if she wasn't looking at his face. 

"Let's get him in my car, ok?" Lee nodded and squeezed his eyes closed and bit his lip. "He's going to be fine, ok Lee?" Lee nodded again and Temari could tell he was trying to bite back a sob and she hugged him. Lee hugged her back and hiccupped as he tried to steady his breathing.

"He's such a good person." Lee whimpered and Temari rubbed soothing circles on his back mumbling "I know"s to placate Lee. 

If there was any shadow of a doubt that Lee loved her baby brother, it was completely nulled now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Send in some prompts for the next chapter. I'm going to use my other ones but I believe right now deserves some of its own prompts.
> 
> And just to let everyone know, Gaara and Lee are not close to getting together yet.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

 

When Gaara came to, he was in a blinding white room and grimaced.

"Gaara! You're up!" He heard his sister cry and it was like a sharp twist in his ears. His head was pounding, and he closed his eyes tightly.

"Please be quiet..." He grumbled and heard an incessant beeping noise.

"Lee, I think the nurses got the page. You can calm down." Kankuro's voice resonated in Gaara's ears and he felt his heartbeat quicken.

"Sorry..." Lee's voice said meekly and Gaara forced his eyes open a fraction so he could look around. Lee was standing right next to his bed on the left side. Temari was at his right side and Kankuro was seated on a chair at the wall across from the bed.

"Lee?" Lee leaned over the bed to give Gaara a better look at him.

"Yes, Gaara. I am here. What do you need?" Lee was considerate enough to keep his voice quiet. 

Before Gaara could make any type of reply, a nurse came in the room to look over Gaara. Lee stood by Kankuro so they could take Gaara's vitals and Temari stood by his side like the doting sister she was. The nurse was just scribbling things down without announcing them so Lee got increasingly more worried that something was wrong. Lee began to bite his thumb and Kankuro watched him from the corner of his eyes. Sure, it was stressful seeing his little brother in the hospital but Lee was just freaking the hell out. Kankuro almost told him to relax but stopped himself. When was the last time Gaara had someone this worried about him?

***

Gaara's vitals were okay, not great but they weren't life threatening. The doctor eventually made his rounds and told Gaara they wanted to bring him in for a CT scan before they did anything else. Gaara insisted he was fine but the doctor wanted to make sure. When he finally left, Gaara looked to Temari and sighed.

"You shouldn't have brought me here. This is too much money. I can't afford this." Before Lee could pitch in, Temari stroked Gaara's hair.

"Gaara I brought you here because we were worried about you. Dad will pay the hospital bill, I'll make sure of it. Don't stress about the cost." She insisted and it made Gaara look less at ease than before.

***

Three hours passed and Gaara still wasn't brought into a different room for the CT scan. After the first hour he fell asleep. Lee wanted to wake him up, but Temari told him he needed all the rest he could get. Lee sat next to Gaara the entire time, fidgeting. 

After the second hour, Temari apologized and told Lee she had to return to the shop since they were understaffed and there was only so much Shikamaru could do. Lee gave her a tentative smile.

"Do you mind if I stay here? I don't think I can concentrate at work right now..." Temari smiled at him and nodded.

"I appreciate you staying with him, Lee. Thank you. Please, keep me updated." With that, Temari and Kankuro left and Lee sat by Gaara's side well into the fourth hour. 

A half an hour after that, the nurses finally came in to get Gaara. Lee rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was so emotionally exhausted at this point; he didn't know what to do. When he stood up the nurse kindly, but firmly told him he wasn't allowed in the room with Gaara during the CT scan and it wouldn't take longer than 30 minutes.

They were the longest 30 minutes of Lee's life.

When Gaara got back into the room, he was alert and awake. Lee's heart skipped at the sight of him being transported into the room. He looked miserable but Lee loved the little pout on his face. Did Gaara realize how cute he was?

"Lee? You're still here?" Lee grinned at him and Gaara gave him a small smile in return, which was more than he usually got. "I'm sorry you had to see all that."

"I'm glad I was there to help as much as I could. I'm sorry I couldn't help more." The true earnestness in Lee's voice made Gaara wonder what he did to deserve someone as kind as Lee. "Are you ok?" Lee stood up and walked to the heart monitor. "Your heartbeat is weird." Gaara coughed awkwardly hoping the attention would be alleviated and looked down at his blanket covered legs. 

"I'm fine." Lee looked more intensely at Gaara.

"Are you sure? Your face is bright red. Do you have a fever?" Lee looked to the monitor and sighed when it didn't read his temperature. "I'm so worried about you, Gaara." Lee admitted and frowned when the heart monitor continued to read an erratic heart rate. "Your heart-" Lee was cut off by the loud ring of his cellphone and Gaara had never been more thankful. 

"Hello? ... Hi dad! Yes... Okay. Thank you so much! ... I will. ... Can you?... That is wonderful. Tell Kakashi I say thank you very much! Yes!... I love you too, dad! Goodbye!" Lee closed the phone and slid it back into his pocket. Gaara loved that sweater. It was such a nice deep green color that somehow made Lee look... brighter. "Are you cold?" Lee asked with the most concerned tone Gaara had ever heard from someone for such a simple question. Before Gaara could answer, Lee was pulling off over his head and handed it to Gaara. "Please put it on. I do not want you to be cold."

Truthfully, Gaara wasn't cold. In fact, he was very warm. That didn't stop him from slowly putting on Lee's dark green pullover sweater. As he slid it over his head, he let himself scent the sweater. Lee had a very earthy, woodsy scent. He smelled like the embodiment of fall. Crisp leaves, burning wood, and fresh apples. It was intoxicating. 

"Thank you, Lee." Gaara said quietly and Lee smiled at him happily.

Lee loved seeing Gaara in his sweater. Especially since Lee was bigger than Gaara, the sleeves were much too long and Gaara swam in the sweater. He looked so cozy and Lee thought it was precious. 

***

The doctor finally made rounds again an hour later and cleared Gaara from the diagnosis of a concussion but told him to be wary since he did have a nasty fall and hurt his head. 

Gaara could go home and he didn't know whether or not to be thankful.

What home?

Lee called Temari excitedly with the news and insisted that Gaara stay at his house. Lee said he thought Gaara might feel more comfortable at a house that didn't have Rasa in it. Temari nor Gaara had the heart to tell him that Gaara wasn't even allowed in the same house as Rasa. 

Temari happily accepted, this way she wouldn't have to sleep at the shop to make sure Gaara didn't have any complications through the night. The fact that he'd be spending more time with someone she thought was the best person for him to be around. Gaara was probably angry at her right now but he would grow to thank her when they finally got together.

Which was totally going to happen.

***

Discharge was painless but took a while and finally Lee was leading him to the garage. Gaara was embarrassed that he had to be wheeled out of the hospital by a nurse but they were insistent that was the policy. Gaara glowered the entire ride down. 

Lee held out his arm for Gaara to take when they were at the door and Gaara almost brushed it off but paused for a moment and took his arm. 

It was Lee after all.

Now Gaara was snuggled in Lee's oversized sweater, and hanging on his arm as if he were a boyfriend. Gaara's cheeks colored and he stared at the ground and let Lee lead him to wherever they were going. He took the time it took to get to the car to be thankful for the first time in his life. He was so thankful. He wasn't sure what he did to deserve Lee, but he thanked whomever gave Lee to him. 

The sky was dark and the air was chilled. Lee was still wearing his uniform. Gaara felt bad that he had Lee's sweater but Lee refused to take it back.

"I have another one in the car, it is fine. Do not worry." He insisted and Gaara's words fell on deaf ears. "Oh, by the way, your sister dropped off some of your clothes at my house if you wanted to go to school. If not, you are more than welcome to stay at my house." Gaara nodded mutely.

***

Lee led him into his house and Gaara couldn't stop drinking in everything about the house. Even when he was living in the dessert, he wasn't allowed in the house. He kind of forgot what the layout of a house looked like. This house though, this house was important. This is where Lee grew up and he wanted to know everything about Lee.

"Hello Gaara!" Gaara glanced up and saw a man that literally looked exactly like Lee. Same hair, same eyebrows, same love for green apparently. "My name is Guy and Kakashi is here somewhere... Anyway! I am Lee's dad. Make yourself at home, young man." He outstretched his hand to Gaara and Gaara slowly reached out and shook it awkwardly. Guy frowned slightly and Gaara colored and bowed his head.

"Thank you. For your hospitality." Gaara stood up straighter, but still slouched and Guy noticed the how close Gaara stood by Lee. Gaara seemed... skittish? Poor thing, he had reasons to be skittish. Guy wondered if he was nervous around adult males because of his abusive father. It made Guy want to cry. The poor child! 

"Don't thank me, you are always welcome here." Guy sounded emotional, which made Lee emotional and Lee thanked his dad quickly and dragged Gaara up to his bedroom.

Gaara glanced around the room. The walls were a deep forest green color with gold molding. His furniture was an espresso wood color and his room just looked... comforting. The area rug under his feet was plush and soft and a simple light brown, the rest of his floor was a deep hardwood. There was a TV across from the bed on the dresser and next to his closet was a chest filled with... legwarmers? 

"Those are weighted." Lee explained with a blush. "I use them when I run and train at the dojo."

"Dojo?" Lee was amazed that this was the first conversation him and Gaara had about his sole purpose of getting a job.

"Oh, yes. I actually applied to the café because I needed a job helping my parents keep their dojo opened. They said I didn't have to, but I love the dojo. So that's where most of my paychecks have been going." That was the most Lee thing Gaara had ever heard. Of course he would work somewhere, not for his own benefit but to help someone else. 

"You're a good person, Lee." Lee blushed and looked away shyly. Compliments from Gaara made his stomach feel weightless. 

"So are you, Gaara." Lee said fondly. "Are you hungry? We have some food downstairs." Gaara shrugged and Lee smiled. "Let's get changed into our pajamas. I always feel better in comfortable clothes!" 

"I don't have any." Gaara said quietly and Lee shrugged and opened one of his drawers. 

"I know they'll be big, but here you go!" Lee handed Gaara a pair of black and white flannel pajama bottoms and a dark blue long sleeved shirt that felt super soft but wow did it look big. Lee smiled inwardly at his pajama choice. He picked it because he knew Gaara liked to be warm and he loved to see Gaara in clothes that were obviously too big on him. Lee couldn't explain why, he just did.

Lee picked out another pair of flannel pants, colored red black and white, and a simple white tee shirt and changed in the bathroom so Gaara had privacy. They met in the hallway and Lee's eyes scanned over Gaara's body with a grin. He was right. Gaara did look absolutely adorable in his pajamas.

"Are you ok?" Gaara perked a brow and Lee's face colored but he nodded and motioned for Gaara to follow him. 

The kitchen was relatively small but Gaara was used to the one at work so he couldn't really say much. It was a nice, cleaned kitchen, which was all that mattered. 

Guy had already been in the kitchen and made them something to eat so Lee made them both a plate and they sat down at the dining room table and ate in a comfortable silence. 

Lee wanted to talk more. He wanted to ask questions, he wanted to get to know Gaara. What could he ask? What was safe versus what would upset him? Lee obviously wanted to know more about his terrible relationship with his father, but he felt that the question would be extremely rude to bring up. Gaara was still healing and Lee wanted to do everything in his power to make sure he would be ok. 

Gaara was finished eating and he kept glancing up at Lee who just seemed to be zoned out. Gaara tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes intently at Lee trying to figure out what he was looking at. 

"Are you ok?" Gaara asked slowly and Lee blinked himself back into reality and laughed embarrassedly.

"Yeah! I am fine. Sorry, I do not know where my head is today. How do you feel right now, Gaara?" Gaara shrugged. "Would you like to watch a movie?"

***

They went up to Lee's room and Lee picked whatever movie he could find and when he looked over, he saw Gaara sitting on his bed. He couldn't swallow the lump in his throat and felt like he was about to choke. Lee made his way to the bed and got under the covers. The house was colder than it normally was and Lee wondered if that was intentional or not. Gaara shivered and Lee held the blankets up and Gaara blushed but got under the cover. 

They both left enough room inbetween them for two more people but the fact that they were alone in bed together just made them nervous. Despite being cold, Gaara was sweating and Lee's heart hammered in his chest. 

Gaara wouldn't be able to say what movie they were watching, a single character name or even what the plot was. He was hyperaware of the body next to his and for whatever reason, after a while made him feel safe. Gaara's position of sitting upright was slowly sinking down into the bed. He'd never been in a bed this comfortable. He couldn't remember the last time being in a real bed that wasn't a pullout couch. 

Gaara fell asleep before the movie ended.

Lee stared at Gaara sleep next to him. He'd never seen someone sleep so silently. Lee was almost worried he wasn't breathing had his chest not risen and fallen in rhythm. 

Lee shut the movie off and laid down, facing Gaara. With a smile he examined every curve of his face. The tiny freckles on his cheeks were beautiful. Gaara was perfect. Lee had no doubts in his mind about that. Lee fell asleep smiling to himself.

***

In most books Lee read, characters woke up not remembering what happened the night before. That wasn't the case with Lee. He wasn't surprised to wake up next to Gaara, he expected to. It wasn't something he could just forget. Lee was excited to wake up and see Gaara. He was still sleeping, same exact position and not making any noise.

Lee would've thought that he didn't sleep at all had his alarm not gone off. He didn't know someone could sleep so still and wondered if there was a reason for it.

Lee climbed out of the bed, something he really didn't want to do, and went to take a shower. He wasn't working this morning, Temari made sure. She told Lee to worry about Gaara and not about work which was something Lee could do easily.

The hot water hitting his skin was soothing. His skin was so cold, by the time the hot water reached his legs, the water wasn't hot anymore. 

He sat down in the tub and let the hot water spray on his hair and shoulders and roll down his body. He put his chin on his knee and wrapped his arms around his legs. The position was comfortable in the moment and right now, he wanted to be as small as he could. 

Watching his toes, Lee thought about Gaara. He thought about his eyes, his hair, his nose, even his ears. He recalled how limited Gaara's words were, like every word was important, he wouldn't waste his words on something that didn't need to be said. Lee loved that. Lee knew he spoke too much sometimes and wondered if Gaara felt as though he were wasting his words on nothing. They say women talk two times as many words as men do, if that were the case, men talked two times as much as Gaara did. 

Gaara's voice was something else. It was much deeper than Lee's and something about it was soothing. Lee could honestly listen to Gaara read a phone book. 

Gaara's hands were so dexterous and watching them work was beautiful. He could craft anything with those hands. Watching him pipe flowers, roll pie shells, cinnamon rolls. Whatever he did, he did beautifully. Lee even remembered the way he sliced fruits. The hold he had on the knife, he always was in control. Gaara seemed like the type that always had control of the situation. He didn't act as if he was 16 years old, he acted like he was in his mid-twenties. 

He wanted to know everything about Gaara. Anything about him. He just wanted... Gaara.

Lee perked up under the stream of hot water as realization hit him like a brick wall. 

How had he not known? It was so obvious. 

He had a crush on Gaara.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter prompts, all from Kyo:
> 
> *Gaara meeting Sasuke and Naruto  
> *Gaara finding about Lee's attempt to go out with Sakura  
> *Naruto teasing Lee about Gaara sleeping over  
> *More ridiculous plots to have Gaara wear big clothing or Lee's clothing

Chapter 11:

 

Gaara woke up to the soft sound of Lee saying his name. At first, Gaara brushed it off as a dream; why else would the receiver of his affections be whispering his name so sweetly? After a while, the volume got louder and Gaara roused from his sleep. 

Lee stared at the just woken up face of Gaara. His eyes were squinted by the soft light from the hallway, half of his face was red from laying on it, and half of his hair was messier than usual. Lee's heart skipped and he found it hard to get his breathing pattern on track again. How could someone looked the way Gaara did?

"Good morning, Gaara. Did you want to go to school today?" As if Gaara could get any cuter, he used one of the floppy sleeves covering his hand to rub his eyes. He gave a nod and crawled out of the bed.

With a smile, Lee watched Gaara stand right next to the bed trying to wake himself up. It took all of his self-control not to touch him or kiss him. Lee didn't realize how badly he wanted to kiss Gaara until now. 

Gaara decided he was awake enough to get changed and he walked over to his bag on Lee's dresser and pulled out a shirt and pants. Before Lee could leave, Gaara pulled his shirt off and Lee's eyes couldn't be averted. 

He hoped it was the lighting in the room being poor, but it looked like Gaara had scars up and down his backside. Lee's eyes widened and he kept his feet firmly rooted to the ground and didn't move. If he did move, he couldn't promise he wouldn't trace the scars with his fingers to see if they were real. If they were real, Lee hoped to god that they weren't from Gaara's father.

Lee quickly left the room before Gaara changed his pants and walked downstairs. Kakashi and Guy were already up, sitting at the kitchen table nursing cups of coffee. 

"Good morning Lee! How are you doing today? Is Gaara going to be joining us?" Guy asked and Lee nodded stiffly and walked to the fridge to grab an apple. "Are you ok?" Another nod. "I don't like when you lie to me, Lee."

There was a pause, then a sigh, and Lee shut the fridge door. He looked in the direction of the stairs to see if Gaara was coming down. He heard the soft footsteps in the upstairs hallway and the sound of the bathroom door shutting. He switched his attention to his father.

"Gaara changed his shirt in front of me and I think I saw a bunch of... scars? All up and down his back... I do not know. It was kind of dark in the room... I am just worried I guess." Guy and Kakashi shared a look.

"What kind of scars did you think you saw, Lee?" Kakashi asked and Lee shrugged. "What did they look like to you?"

"I guess... just really long thin scars."

"Did they look new?" Lee shook his head.

"Not that I could see. The room was dark but none of them looked dark enough to be red." There was a silence in the kitchen after that and Lee was brought back to reality when he heard his dad wish Gaara a good morning.

"Where is your sweater? Are you not cold?" Lee asked and Gaara rubbed his arms and nodded.

"I am. I don't think Temari remembered to bring me sweater." He said quietly and Lee rushed passed him to find one of his sweaters in his room. He grabbed the first one in his closet and went downstairs and handed it to Gaara. Gaara tentatively put his hand out and took it, pulling it over his head and pushed the hood down. 

"You realize you don't need to go to school today, right?" Guy insisted and Gaara nodded slowly.

"It's fine. I want to go." Guy took that answer and nodded. 

"Would you like some coffee?" Gaara nodded.

"Yes. Please." Lee reached into the cupboard to get Gaara a to-go mug and Gaara filled it to the top with coffee.

"No milk or sugar?" Gaara shook his head. "I thought you liked your coffee sweet."

"I like my cold coffee sweet. Hot coffee doesn't really taste like anything to me. Are you ready?" Lee nodded and Guy jumped up.

"I'll drive you two to school." Lee paused.

"Are you sure, dad?" Guy nodded and smiled, although Lee could see it wasn't completely a real smile. "Okay. Thank you. Bye Kakashi." Lee waved, walking towards the exit. "Love you."

"Love you too, kid. Have a good day at school."

***

Lee hadn't seen Gaara nearly all day. He saw him briefly walking into a classroom, still wearing his hoodie. He hadn't realized he would be this stressed out after not seeing Gaara for a few hours, but here he was.

"Lee?" Lee turned to face Sakura and smiled.

"Oh, hello Sakura! How are you today?" He asked and she smiled warmly at him.

"You looked distracted, are you okay?" Lee gave a nod that didn't exactly convince Sakura.

"Come on. It's study hall now, so let's just go to the library. There's a sub anyway, he won't even care." Sakura said with a laugh and her and Lee linked arms. He didn't know when the tradition started, but him and Sakura usually linked arms when they walked. She did it with Sasuke sometimes when he was in a good mood, which wasn't too often.

"Okay." Lee let her lead him around the school, just being thankful for the touch of her skin on his. It grounded him. The feeling kept him in the present moment instead of dazing off in his thoughts.

"How has work been going?" She asked and he honestly didn't know how to answer that. It was a loaded question.

"I like the work." He wound up saying but didn't clarify and Sakura frowned up at him. "What?"

"Lee, something is bothering you and I can tell. I'd like you to tell me but I know I can't force you. Just know I'm here for you." She smiled and Lee returned it. He was very thankful to have Sakura on his arm. She was a fantastic friend. 

"Hey bushy-brow." Lee looked to his side to see Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke was still sulking but less than he had been. "Do you know what I saw in English class?" Lee looked at Naruto for a second before realization dawned on him. "Yup."

"What did you see?" Sakura asked, nosily and Sasuke chuckled, Naruto must've told him already.

"Just our old pal Gaara... wearing Lee's team sweater." Lee's face warmed up at that. He grabbed the first sweater he found. It was the sweater that the team got for track. It had the school's logo, and name and the back had his name on it. Lee didn't realize the implications.

"Oh really?" Sakura asked, she looked... confused.

"Yup." Naruto giggled gleefully. "So you wanna tell us what's going on between you two?"

No. Not particularly. Lee frowned, there wasn't a good way to go about this. He couldn't tell the truth to his friends about Gaara's abusive family situation! That was just not something anyone should go around telling people. Plus, Gaara trusted him.

"We hung out and he slept over my house since it was so late and he left his sweater at home so I gave him one of mine." Lee's cheeks were pink. Honestly, his lie wasn't big. He just left out the part of the story where they were in the hospital.

"He slept over your house, huh? What happened then?" Naruto gave an over exaggerated wink and Lee furrowed his brow.

"We slept. Honestly. Do you and Sasuke have sex with me when you sleep over?" The deadpan of the question got Naruto to flounder.

"Lee! That's gross!" Naruto cried and Sasuke chuckled at Naruto's ridiculousness. "I would NEVER sleep with you!" That garnered a lot of unwanted attention. Lee's face turned red, he looked around at the crowd that was staring at them, and thanked every god known to man that Gaara wasn't there for that comment. 

"That is really more than okay with me, Naruto. You are not exactly my type." Lee's voice was soft, as if he were letting Naruto down easily. Naruto glared and pointed at him.

"IS IT BECAUSE I'M NOT A REDHEAD?! IS THAT WHY YOU WOULDN'T SLEEP WITH ME?!" Sasuke covered his face in his hands and quickly walked into the library and Sakura punched Naruto upside the head.

"NARUTO! STOP BEING OBNOXIOUS AND EMBARRASSING LEE!" Naruto nursed the sore spot on his head and cried, running into the library after Sasuke. Sakura shook her head and held onto Lee's arm tighter than she had before. "Come on Lee." She led him into the library and the first thing Lee saw was Gaara.

If Lee was red before, he was positively crimson now. Sakura felt him tremble under her arm and looked at him, cupping his cheek in her hand.

"Are you okay, Lee?" She asked gently and Lee felt like he was going to explode if he stayed in the library. He nodded quickly and Sakura dragged him to a table. Gaara and Lee held eye contact for a few seconds until Gaara looked back down at his book and began writing.

Lee was absolutely smitten. He stared with fondness watching Gaara do his homework and for whatever reason thought it was the most precious thing anyone has ever done ever. Sakura frowned when she saw his attention stayed glued on Gaara even after being across the library. 

"Lee!" Lee's head snapped in her direction. "What are you doing?" 

"I..." Lee didn't have anything to say. What would he say? Sorry, I was staring at Gaara because I think he's cute. 

"Whatever, just stop it. We're all here." Sakura said and sat down at the four-person table that Naruto and Sasuke occupied.

"We see your lover is here." Naruto whispered with a grin and Lee groaned.

"If you do not stop making fun of me about Gaara, I will leave this table." Sakura scoffed at that.

"No you won't. Come on Lee. Stop being silly. You've been ignoring us for days. It's our turn to have your attention." Sakura insisted and Lee frowned at that. He wanted to offer the idea of Gaara sitting with them, but with Sakura acting so strangely, he decided against it.

They all did their homework in a comfortable silence (except Naruto, who was playing on his phone) until Sakura finally snapped.

"Lee. Seriously. Stop with the leg." Lee turned to her and noticed he was bouncing his leg and wondered how long he'd been doing that. He gave her an apologetic look and she frowned at him and went back to work. He couldn't concentrate. How could he when Gaara was a few yards behind him? How rude of him was it to walk into the library and allow himself to be rushed away without saying hello? Lee felt extremely bad, especially with everything he discovered that day so quickly pushed himself away from the table and walked to Gaara's table, ignoring the protests from Sakura.

Lee sat down at the table and Gaara's eyes looked up. Lee smiled softly.

"Hello Gaara. I haven't seen you much today." Gaara grimaced at that. "What?"

"I just... I didn't think it mattered, you seemed content with your friends..." Gaara went back to writing and Lee felt terrible.

"You are my friend too. It was very rude of me to not say hello to you when I saw you. My other friends are just upset because I have not been paying attention to them lately... I have been... distracted." Gaara nodded and said nothing else. For whatever reason the silence bothered Lee a great deal.

"Where are your friends?" He asked and Gaara stopped writing and looked up at him with the most honest confused expression Lee had ever seen.

"You're sitting right there."

"No. Your other friends." Gaara slouched down even more.

"I don't have any." He continued writing and now Lee felt even more awful. Did that mean that Lee was Gaara's only friend and Lee was rude enough to not say hello to him? Lee was heartbroken.

"Would you like to sit with me and my friends?" He asked and Gaara shook his head. "Please? Just this once. I would like you to meet them. Officially." Gaara looked up at was met with Lee's begging expression and sighed and nodded slowly. He began packing his things up and Lee jumped up with a smile. He looked over at his friends and Naruto was giving him a thumbs up. Sasuke was just smirking and Sakura wasn't looking, just avidly writing in her notebook.

Lee brought Gaara over, grabbed another chair and put it between him and Sasuke. Gaara sat down slowly and looked at everyone at the table. 

"Hey man!" Naruto grinned. "What's up?" Gaara shrugged and sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. He wasn't sure how to interact with people. Naruto looked like he just had a realization and slammed his hand on the table. "That's right! You're Gaara! Man, let me just tell you..." Lee felt a sense of dread and hoped Naruto didn't say anything embarrassing. "You can cook! Or bake, or whatever. One day, Lee brought home some pastries and I swear I gained like 67 pounds that day."

Lee was pleased because he could tell the compliment meant a lot to Gaara. If there was one way to make sure you were placed in good regards with Gaara, it was to compliment his baking skills. Gaara was very proud of them.

"Thank you. That is kind of you to say." Sasuke nodded, wanting to make Gaara feel comfortable for Lee's sake.

"Yeah, I must've eaten one of each muffin and whatever else he brought until I felt sick." Gaara appreciated that comment too, even though Lee knew Gaara complained about the amount of muffins he made on a regular basis. 

"I told you he was amazing." Lee said with a grin. Gaara flushed and shuffled in his seat. He was getting embarrassed with all of the compliments. "And the cakes he makes are beautiful." Lee added. "Even if they are covered in jam." Lee got the rare smile from Gaara and he covered his face and shook his head with a small laugh.

"If only there was something that wasn't jam that would've been a better option for covering a cake." Gaara said flatly and Lee grinned widely.

"Certainly. I would think buttercream, but I do not want it too sweet. Everyone knows there is no sugar in jam. It is the better option." Gaara smirked at Lee and Lee's face warmed for the umpteenth time. He wondered if his cheeks would just be completely red around Gaara at all times. "So what are you working on now?"

"Just homework..." Gaara opened his notebook to a section covered in math problems. "You?"

"Oh, me too!" Naruto snorted.

"Yeah ok. You couldn't sit still long enough for that..." He muttered and Lee glared at him. Sasuke chuckled and Naruto smirked at Sasuke. 

"Are you almost done?" Lee asked, blatantly ignoring his friends.

"Yeah. It would be faster if there weren't 7 sub questions per question." Gaara mumbled and Lee nodded. What else could he talk about? What was there to talk about? 

"Oh! Lee!" Sakura looked up and Lee turned to face her. "I've been meaning to ask, would you like to do something later?" The question came as a shock. Sakura never wanted to hang out with just him after school. It was usually a group thing. Maybe that's what she meant?

"Like, as a group?" He asked after a stunned second.

"No. Just you and me." She smiled sweetly and Lee honestly didn't know what to do. He remembered when he had the biggest crush on her and all he wanted to do was to hang out with her but he was always too nervous to ask after she shot him down when he asked her out. 

"Uh, sure. Okay." Lee agreed and she smiled wider.

"Awesome! Can't wait. Meet me after 9th period. I'll see you guys later." She gathered her stuff and left and Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks at each other and then stared at Lee who still stared in the wake of Sakura.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked and Sasuke shook his head slowly.

"I think Sakura just asked Lee on a date." Lee stiffened at that.

"Wait, what?" Naruto and Sasuke laughed loudly, almost getting kicked out of the library in the process. "What is so funny? I never said it was a date. I just said I would hang out with her. Why would she ask me out anyway? I already asked her out before and she turned me down."

"You asked out Sakura?" Gaara asked quietly and Lee turned to him and suddenly felt really embarrassed. 

"Y-yeah but that was three and a half years ago. It wasn't a big deal" Naruto cackled.

"Oh puh-leeze. You're literal wording was 'Please be my girlfriend, I vow to protect you till the day I die'." Naruto laughed and then teared up he was laughing so hard.

"Verbatim." Sasuke smirked and started to chuckle with Naruto. 

"Come on guys! I was 14!" Lee whined and tried to stand up for himself without even realizing the stewing thoughts Gaara had in his mind.

Gaara sat stiffly in his seat, he knew he had a crush on Lee but nothing prepared him for the stabbing pain of rejection he felt after witnessing Lee agree to a date with Sakura. And then, finding out the corny phrase he used to ask her out, even. Gaara pursed his lips slightly in thought. He realized that if Lee wanted to ask him out, he would've. Clearly, he was brave enough. 

Gaara bit back a sigh. He didn't want Lee to know the overwhelming feeling of disappointment he felt deep in his bones. What could he expect? Gaara knew he didn't deserve Lee. At least he was able to call him a friend. That should be enough.

Why didn't it feel like enough?

The bell rang and Gaara stood up quickly and put his books in his barely functional bookbag and fled from the library, barely even listening to anything Lee said after him. He needed time to think. He needed time to get over his stupid crush. And he needed time to settle the seething feeling of anger he got when he thought about Sakura. 

Lee watched as Gaara left the library like a bat out of hell. He turned to face Naruto and Sasuke and they shrugged.

"I do not understand. Why did Sakura ask me out?" Sasuke smirked.

"You're dense. She's mad because you have a crush on someone else and now you'll stop doting on her." Lee frowned.

"That isn't true. Also it isn't nice. I will find out what the reasoning is after school today. There has to be a good explanation." Sasuke rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah whatever Lee. Let's go to class." Naruto frowned at the situation as they left the library. He hoped what Sasuke said wasn't true. He didn't want to think that lowly of Sakura but he couldn't help but notice how angry she got when Gaara was mentioned or even around. What else could be the causer of that?

Naruto shook the thoughts out of his head and got lost in the sea of students in the school hallway. His last thoughts on Lee was silently hoping Lee figured out what he wanted enough to actually pursue it instead of pretending feelings didn't exist.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry about my hiatus. I actually lived in New York my entire life and my husband wanted to finish school (he was an international student when we met and got married) so we moved to Hungary, Budapest to finish! I've been in Hungary for a week now and it's different, alright. 
> 
> If you're from the states I require you to send me the following items:  
> Doritos (They don't fucking have doritos. WTF. Please send Blazin Buffalo and Ranch)  
> Wendy's chicken nuggets  
> Milk (Their milk tastes like sweet cream unsalted butter and they keep it on unrefridgerated shelves???)  
> I'm sure there's more but that's all I'm craving now. <3
> 
>  
> 
> Prompts! Thank you causticCeramist for your binge reading and kind words.
> 
> This chapters prompts are:
> 
> -Temari (and Kankuro[not included]) hugging Gaara  
> -Kakashi and Gaara have a silent understanding  
> -[kind of] Lee getting jealous over Kakashi and Gaara

Chapter 12

 

"Hey! Gaara!" Gaara looked up and furrowed his brow at the sight of Naruto. What was he doing flagging him down? "Wait up!" 

"Yes?" Gaara situated his bookbag on his shoulder correctly and turned to Naurto expectantly. 

"Hey, Lee wanted me to let you know that Kakashi is going to be picking you both up." Gaara seemed confused.

"Why?" Naruto shrugged. "Why didn't Lee tell me before?"

"Just found out, I guess. He would've come to tell you but Sakura kind of dragged him out of the school." Gaara nodded stiffly and Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You okay?" Gaara had never really talked to people much to know that when most people were asked if they were okay, the normal response was yes even if they weren't. Which led Naruto to a surprising admission.

"Not really. I think I may be jealous." Naruto stared at Gaara for a minute before he realized he was being impolite. Now, had Lee said something like that, Naruto would have laughed and made fun of him. Since it was Gaara, he honestly had no idea how to react.

"Jealous why?" He said slowly and Gaara shifted on his feet and stared at the floor.

"I suppose I'm not a fan of Sakura." Naruto gave a nod.

"Yeah I see why. She's pretty annoying sometimes. Plus, it must suck to have her take away your best bud." Gaara frowned at that and Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, didn't mean to rub salt in the wound. Anyway, you can talk to Lee about it later. You going to work?" Gaara nodded. "Awesome, I'll tell Kakashi and Lee to meet you there. When will you be done?"

"Around 8." Gaara said with conviction even though he'd never stopped working at that time ever.

"Alright! See you around!"

***

Gaara stood in front of the stove and was whisking a mixture that would soon be pudding. He was zoning in and out and just wanted something to keep his hands busy. He supposed he could use this as a shop cake filling. He didn't care at this point.

"Gaara?" Temari walked into the kitchen slowly, as if approaching a harmed animal. "Gaara?"

"Yes, Temari?" Temari quickened her steps and stood by his side.

"What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything but I assumed you'd take a break from here for a while."

Gaara put down his whisk and put both hands on the sides of the stove, leaning on it, tensing up his shoulders. Temari rubbed his back slowly.

"Lee..." Gaara pursed his lips and she noticed the confusion in his face. She wondered if they finally admitted they liked each other yet. Temari tried not to smile.

"What about Lee?" She asked and Gaara averted his gaze and looked back into the pot. "Gaara, are you ok?"

"He's on a date right now." Temari felt a coldness she didn't know she could feel and pulled Gaara in for a hug without saying anything. Gaara felt a small sense of comfort but didn't feel any better in the end.

"Do you want me to fire him?" Temari half joked and Gaara looked up at her and the corner of his mouth tugged up slightly. 

"Then you'll have to come in early mornings." She frowned at that and rubbed her brother's hair.

"I'd do anything for you, Gaara. Even wake up at 4am." That was the most touching thing Gaara ever heard his sister say.

***

Later on, after they closed, Gaara sat on the couch waiting for Lee. He sent a text message to his bank to receive his account balance (old school, yes. Flip phone still.) He wondered if Temari was able to sneak in some money to his account so he could buy new shoes. He finally ruined them completely when they got stuck on the floorboard and the bottom of the shoe ripped mostly off.

When he received a text message that said [Acct Bal: 4,802.78], his hands started shaking. Where the hell did that money come from? He quickly called Temari, trying his best to keep the phone to his ear and not drop it like the bundle of nerves he was.

"Hello?" 

"Temari, why is there so much money in my account?" He asked quickly and heard Temari move around on the other end.

"Well, dad and I got into a huge fight when you went to the hospital. It ended with me telling him to pay you for all of your work since we've been here. I was able to get you 15 an hour and I know you worked more than 80 hours a week but that's all I was able to get him to pay you. It's the least he can do for not even letting you live at home. I'm sorry it took so long Gaara. And I tried to fight him on paying you for everything back from Suna but this was all I could do. I'm sorry."

"Don't." Gaara said quickly. "Don't apologize... Thank you." He quickly hung up the phone and laid down on the couch and nervously tapped the antenna on his lips. 

For some reason the money made him feel even worse.

***

Kakashi got there before Lee did which Gaara felt a piercing stab of disappointment. He'd been anxiously waiting for Lee all day, hoping he'd show up. He was unsure why he wanted Lee to ditch Sakura so badly. He knew Lee would never do that but the hope was still there. Now it was 7:46, they'd been closed for nearly an hour and Gaara felt alone watching Kakashi walk up to the door and knock on it.

Gaara let Kakashi in and noticed Kakashi examine the shop.

"Where is Lee?" He asked and Gaara frowned. Didn't Lee tell him?

"Uh, he'd been with Sakura all day." Kakashi paused and turned to Gaara confused. 

"Sakura?" Gaara nodded. "He left you alone?" 

"I worked. He didn't. He didn't leave me alone. He has more friends than me." Kakashi frowned. Something about the situation with Sakura didn't bode well with him. 

"Where's your bag from home?" Kakashi asked, changing the subject and Gaara tilted his head to the side. "Lee told you that you were staying with us tonight, right? You went home to get your stuff?" Gaara's confusion turned into slight embarrassment. Lee didn't say any of this to him. 

"Yes. My bag. Let me go get it." Gaara quickly disappeared into the back and opened the door to his room. He grabbed a plastic bag and put the few articles of clothing he had in the bag and sighed when he still had room. He grabbed the charger for his phone and looked at the empty room with a hallow feeling in his heart.

"What the hell is this?" Gaara jerked back and turned his head to see an irritated Kakashi.

"It's my..." The sentence died on Gaara's lips and Kakashi's frown creased his face. "...relax room. For when I don't have time to go home... I just sleep here." Kakashi looked at Gaara and Gaara's eyes couldn't meet his in shame.

"Gaara." Gaara didn't speak. "I have a teenage son. No one can lie to me. Is this your bedroom?" Gaara felt more shame and his face burned and he gave a curt nod. "Why don't you live at home?"

"...What home?" His words cracked and Kakashi stared at Gaara with too many emotions flashing across his face. This man- no. Not a man, this child in front of him looked so ashamed and broken. Standing in the only room he knew was his own and the room was sad. The bed didn't look even slightly comfortable. He didn't have any possessions in the room, there was no window, it was dark. This wasn't a room, it was a storage closet big enough for a futon and some hangers. 

Kakashi gave Gaara another look, really looked at him. He saw the clothes that were too big on him, the shoes that weren't even together, Gaara's attire was homely. Kakashi didn't want to look at him anymore. He took a step forward and hugged Gaara tightly, trying his best to portray that someone cared about him. That's all Kakashi needed was for Gaara to understand not everyone was going to not care about him. He was worth something.

"Come on, kid. You're going to stay with us a while." Kakashi said quietly and Gaara nodded and they broke the embrace. Gaara stared at his plastic bag in his hand.

"This is all I have besides my school bag." Kakashi had fostered kids in the past. One of the things that always broke his heart was the first day the kids got to the house, they had all of their stuff packed in a garbage bag. Just seeing someone put their things in a garbage bag upset him, he didn't want them to think that's all they were, just garbage. He now realized there was worse things to see kids with. A plastic bag. Gaara couldn't even fill a garbage bag.

***

Kakashi wound up texting Lee to find his own way home since he wanted to be late (in reality Lee was only going to be about 5 minutes late but Kakashi was hyped up on negative emotions and just needed to get out of the shop.

When he brought Gaara home, Guy sat at the dining room table with a smile to greet them, which quickly melted off his face when he saw Kakashi's expression. He went to ask and Kakashi shook his head and led Gaara up the stairs. Guy was curious but knew that Kakashi for whatever reason was upset and would let him know what was going on when he had the chance. 

Lee walked in the door a few minutes later which confused Guy even more since he assumed they all traveled together and Lee looked pretty upset too.

"What's going on, Lee?" Lee shrugged his shoulders.

"I think I upset Kakashi." Guy pondered for a second before saying, 

"Well that explains his mood." Lee looked damn near devastated. "What happened?"

"We were supposed to meet at the shop at 8 and at 8:01 he told me if I was going to be late I should find my own ride back. I feel terrible. I would have been at the shop by 8:05 at the latest but he was very upset with me. Should I go apologize?" Guy shook his head.

"No, he's busy with Gaara." Lee's demeanor brightened.

"Gaara's here?" Guy nodded.

"Don't go up there just yet. I don't know what they're doing." He insisted and Lee frowned and looked up the stairs longingly. He missed Gaara all day! He was excited to come home to see him, he was nervous that he wasn't going to come but now that he knew Gaara was there he felt like it was unfair that he couldn't go talk to him. What did Kakashi have to say to him anyway?

***

Kakashi led Gaara up the stairs and walked down the hallway. Gaara gave a longing glance to Lee's bedroom door, feeling the familiar ache in his chest from missing him. Almost directly across from Lee's bedroom door, Kakashi opened another door and turned on the light. 

It was a small, but cozy looking room. The carpet was dark blue, the bedspread was an abstract design with varying shades of blue and white, the headboard was a light brown and so was the matching dresser and bookshelf. Across from the bed, there was an average sized flat screen mounted to the wall, and the nightstand had two remotes, a lamp and a clock.

"This is your room, Gaara. Make yourself comfortable." Gaara heard the words but couldn't exactly believe them. 

"What?" He asked quietly and Kakashi led him inside the room. Gaara now noticed the room had a windowsill padded with cushions as a makeshift chair. It could easily fit two people. The window was huge. Kakashi sat down on it and gestured for Gaara to sit on the bed. Gaara looked around awkwardly to find a place to put his bag of clothes. He nervously set them down on the dresser and slowly sat on the bed, as if he was afraid the bed would swallow him.

"I wasn't lying before, Gaara. I want you to stay here. We would love to have you. You can think about it if you want. But for now this is your room until you want to leave it. Tomorrow, after school, I'm going to bring you shopping for some clothes and shoes, ok?" Gaara didn't know what else to say. He just nodded. 

Kakashi didn't take the lack of words as Gaara not being grateful. If Kakashi knew Gaara like he thought he did, (or at least kids like Gaara) right now he was really overwhelmed and just couldn't express himself. The best thing he could do right now is leave the room and let Gaara decide what he wanted to do.

"Guy has dinner made downstairs, I know it's late but you're more than welcome to come down and eat with us. Take your time." Kakashi stood up and walked to the door. "And Gaara." He turned to face the small teen. "If you ever need anything, you can talk to any of us. Me, Guy and Lee. I hope you know that." Gaara didn't move but Kakashi left the room anyway, shutting the door softly behind him. 

Gaara looked around the room for the umpteenth time and pressed his hands on the bed, feeling the softness of the mattress. Today had been one of the luckiest days of his life, if only it hadn't also been the loneliest too. There was a soft knock at the door. Gaara walked over and opened it.

A part of him wasn't expecting Lee. Almost like he forgot he was in Lee's house. Lee was smiling at him with the kindest expression he'd ever seen. For whatever reason that made Gaara's eyes burn. Lee saw Gaara's eyes start to water and quickly pulled him into a hug and closed the door behind him. Gaara clung to Lee like a lifeline. His whole life got better when Lee came into it. Gaara was hit in the face by the deep smell of Lee. The most calming smell to him, personally. But it was strange, something smelled different about him. It dawned on him and Gaara held Lee tighter, hoping the smell would go away. 

How close would you have to be to someone for their smell to linger on their clothes, their skin? When does the smell fade? Is it something as innocent as just sitting next to someone that spreads their scent to the next person? Was it a hug? Was it more? Why did Lee's skin smell so sweet? What if Gaara held Lee closer? Would the smell fade and in its stead turn into Gaara's smell on Lee's skin? None of that mattered now that he was holding Lee. A Lee that didn't smell like Lee.

Gaara knew he was smelling Sakura.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like Hungary.
> 
> The food here is not good. (As an American trying to eat American foods made by Hungarians. Corn, ham and chicken don't belong on pizza collectively. Stop putting ketchup on pizza. Stop.)
> 
> Prompt:  
> -lee getting jealous over kakashi and gaara

Chapter 13

The next day, Kakashi and Guy picked up Gaara at the front of the school entrance to go shopping. Guy looked around to see Lee, but couldn't see any glimpse of his son anywhere.

"Where did Lee go?" He asked and Gaara sighed as he climbed in the back of the car and put his seatbelt on.

"He's with Sakura right now. He probably forgot." Gaara said quietly and Kakashi and Guy shared a look. 

"Does he know we're here?" Guy asked Kakashi and Kakashi frowned.

"Yes. I told him we were going shopping this morning." Guy looked back out the window in search of his son. 

"That's strange. It's unlike Lee to be rude." Gaara's lips pressed into a thin line and he stared out of the window that didn't have the school in his view. If Lee was coming, he didn't want to see Sakura.

All damn day, any time Lee came to say hello to him, Sakura would pull him away with some damsel in distress bull and Lee would run to her aid. It wasn't that Lee was purposefully leaving Gaara all day; he just tried to help his friend. For whatever reason though, Sakura did not like Lee talking to Gaara and seemed to make it her mission to separate the two. Now, here they were again.

"Call him." Kakashi demanded and Guy noticed the irritated tone and quickly pulled out his phone. He wasn't sure what had Kakashi so short tempered with Lee lately, but it was something they'd have to discuss. 

"Hello dad! What can I do for you?" Guy's eyebrows creased and he looked at Kakashi confused.

"What do you mean? You were supposed to meet us at the front of the school. Where are you? Gaara is here." Kakashi rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

"Sakura..." Gaara grumbled and Kakashi could only agree. 

"Oh! I am so sorry! I completely forgot! I will be there in just a moment!" Guy hung up the phone and looked at Kakashi who didn't look amused.

"He forgot." Guy said flatly and Kakashi shook his head. "You said he's with some girl?" Gaara nodded but didn't say anything. He didn't like talking about Sakura.

"Not 'some' girl. Sakura." Kakashi said with a hint of disdain. "You know. Sakura." Realization dawned on Guy.

"Oh! The girl he had a crush on two years ago? They're talking, that's good!" Kakashi scowled.

"I don't like her." That made Gaara smirk, which he hid behind his hand.

"Why?" Kakashi looked at Guy incredulously. 

"Why? How about when he asked her out, she said "ew" and Lee was crushed for like a month. Don't you remember that? Who the fuck says "ew" to someone? Say no like a normal fucking person." Guy's eyes widened at Kakashi's clear annoyance.

"I remember that now. There's no use getting worked up about it now. If Lee decides to date her, they date. Nothing we can say to him to prove otherwise." Before Kakashi could respond, the door was swung open and Lee jumped inside.

"Hello! I am very sorry! Today has been very stressful and I forgot we were meeting." Kakashi didn't answer; he just turned the car on and drove.

"What was so stressful, Lee?" Guy asked and Lee groaned.

"It has been a terrible day. In math, I forgot my homework at home on my desk at home. Then I dropped my calculator and broke it, I didn't even know they could break! In gym, a pipe broke over the lockers so my clothes were soaked but we still had to work out for gym and now I smell bad because we could not even shower. In English, we were put into pairs to do a project and I was paired with Sasuke but he was out sick so I was put with a mean guy who always makes fun of me. I fell down the stairs trying to get to my class and had to go to the nurse. A classmate of mine came in sick and he threw up and I cannot see someone throw up without throwing up, so then I threw up too and then I had to help clean the nurses office and every time I had a break, Sakura would ask me to do her a favor and I am just so tired of today." Lee said and Gaara was pretty sure he only took about 3 breaths in his entire soliloquy.

"I'm sorry your day was bad, Lee." Gaara said softly and Lee looked over at Gaara and smiled at him, as if it were his first time seeing Gaara.

"Thank you Gaara. That means a lot." 

"Well what were you doing before we called?" Guy asked and Lee scratched his cheek.

"That is the odd thing. Sakura kept coming to me all day with the strangest requests. I thought after we hung out yesterday she would have gotten bored of hanging out with me but she was very talkative. Anyway, she asked if I could help her with her art project. She said she was practicing drawing muscle groups or something. Sasuke was supposed to help her but like I said, he wasn't here today." Kakashi snorted.

"Sakura wanted you to be a naked model?" Lee's cheeks turned bright red.

"No! I mean... not completely I guess? She just needed arms and chest. Which is weird for an art project in school but when I got a call from you I told her I would have to do it another time because I had to go shopping. She did not seem very happy." Lee shrugged, unbothered by it.

"What is going on with you and that girl anyway?" Kakashi asked, trying to mask his obvious distrust.

"Sakura?" Lee's face turned red. "Uh, n-nothing. I honestly have no idea what is her deal lately. She is acting super weird. And really..." Lee flushed again. "Touchy I guess. Like she keeps holding my arm or something. It is very... strange." Guy laughed at the admission.

"Oh Lee! The youthful perils of love! I think someone has an admirer~!" Kakashi elbowed Guy, slightly jerking the car as he did so. "What? I'm just telling it how it is. What do you think, Gaara?" Gaara frowned, being put under the spotlight and suddenly Lee was looking at him too.

"I wouldn't know. No one has ever thrown themselves at me. I can't particularly blame them as I'm not much of a prize." Lee grabbed Gaara's wrist.

"Gaara. Why would you say that? You're the most handsome guy I know." The earnestness of his statement had Gaara's face almost as red as his hair and Kakashi and Guy shared a look in the front seat that neither boys picked up on. 

***

Once Kakashi pulled into the parking lot, he dragged Guy far enough away that the boys wouldn't be able to hear them.

"Take Lee and bring him somewhere else. I need to talk to Gaara." Kakashi instructed and Guy smirked.

"Does this have anything to do with their little schoolboy crush on each other?" Kakashi frowned and Guy grinned. "You act like I'm completely blind. I always see youthful love."

"I really regret ever being seen with you." Kakashi said flatly and Guy gave him a thumbs up.

"I love when you sweet talk me." He said with a wink and Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Let us go Lee!"

"Go where?" Lee asked and Guy dramatically turned to him.

"You think just because the dojo is closed I'm going to let you get away with not training?!" Lee stood straight up and saluted.

"You are right, dad! What is your plan?" Guy pointed intensely to nowhere in particular. 

"We will run around the perimeter of the mall 40 times!" Lee was already stretching and Gaara gave him an odd look.

"You are too easy on me, dad! How about 60?" Guy teared up and hugged his son.

"You know how to make me proud! Now let's go!" They ran off and Gaara and Kakashi stood there for a moment watching them get smaller as they ran away.

"What the hell just happened?" Gaara asked before he knew what he was saying.

"My entire life since meeting Guy has been a string of that exact question." Kakashi said flatly. "Anyway, let's go." Gaara followed Kakashi inside and spared one final look in the direction Lee ran in and was amazed when he didn't see him anymore.

***

Finding Gaara shoes was difficult. Actually, finding Gaara anything was difficult. He was completely unused to spending money and having money spent on him that he was uncomfortable picking out anything. Kakashi knew there were several things Gaara obviously liked but for whatever reason something held him back from actually getting them. 

Gaara really liked this one pair of boots, they were a dark brown and comfortable. They were reasonably insulated and the tread was great for being outside and on ice. Plus, with winter around the corner coming at any day, Kakashi would think that choosing these pair of boots was a no brainer. Gaara effectively talked himself out of getting them since they were 80 dollars and he "just needed new work shoes". Gaara was only in work shoes now since his other shoes were complete shit. So Kakashi spent 15 minutes lecturing Gaara about shoes and proper shoe wear.

Gaara knew he needed new shoes. He knew he needed new clothes. He also was aware of the account balance in his bank. He'd sent a text to his bank inquiring about it almost obsessively and each time the same number came back. Gaara wasn't used to money. He wasn't used to getting things. In his mind, the money would disappear at the drop of a hat and he'd have nothing. He'd rather not use it in the event that he would need it in the future. In any case, he felt undeserving of new things. His entire life he was handed things that weren't new. This was his first time in a mall that the sole purpose of the trip was to get him something and he didn't like the feeling. He didn't want to tell that to Kakashi though.

Suddenly, in the middle of shopping for a winter jacket after Gaara turned down the third coat that he clearly liked, Kakashi snapped.

"Gaara, you're worth getting new things for. It isn't a waste of money. You need these things. You're worth having nice shoes and a warm coat. You matter as a person. You deserve to have things you need and even things you want. You aren't less than anyone else. What would you do if Lee wouldn't get something because he didn't feel worth it?" Gaara was angry at the hypothetical situation. Lee was worth everything.

Kakashi knelt down, made eye contact with Gaara, and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder. 

"Don't be so down on yourself, kid. Sometimes when you don't feel worth it, just think about how other people see you. Don't look at yourself through your eyes right now, look at yourself through Lee's. You know he would want you to be warm. You know he'd want you to be comfortable. And you know he'd want you to love yourself enough to not need to look at yourself through his eyes to treat yourself kindly." Gaara looked at his feet and nodded slowly. "Good. So what coat did you want?"

***

When Kakashi managed to get Gaara a jacket, boots, shoes and some clothes, he considered it a win. Gaara voiced his very strong reluctance to have Kakashi pay for anything they had picked out but it fell on deaf ears. 

At this point, they sat in the food court of the mall, Kakashi reading his book and drinking a smoothie and Gaara sat across from him eating French fries. 

It seemed sudden when Kakashi put down his book and stared directly into Gaara's eyes. Gaara expected the worst but somehow managed to maintain eye contact, even though his first reaction was to stare at the ground.

"So. You like Lee, huh?" Gaara looked at him confused and Kakashi smirked. "You have a crush on my son?" That was forward. Gaara's face warmed and he looked down at his lap. "It's okay, I'm not making fun of you or anything. Just making sure."

"Why?" Gaara asked and Kakashi was relatively surprised that Gaara didn't deny it, or try to at least.

"I just assumed you liked him considering how you act around him. It's nice to see someone show a genuine, unselfish interest in him. He's a great kid." Gaara nodded slowly.

"The best." He agreed quietly and Kakashi smiled and leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table.

"Why don't you tell him?" Gaara shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I guess I figured he doesn't like me that way. He went out of his way to ask out Sakura so I know he isn't too shy. I convinced myself if he liked me enough to want to date me he would ask me. It's stupid... but I just... It's new. Plus, now with Sakura..." Gaara sighed and Kakashi frowned. Yes, Sakura was a headache as of late. 

"I'm sure he likes you too, Gaara. He thinks very highly of you." Kakashi smiled and Gaara gave a tentative shy smile and averted his eyes again. 

Kakashi realized Gaara didn't have problems maintaining eye contact with Lee or anyone his age. It seemed he was put off by adults. Probably because of his father. Kakashi bit back a sigh. He'd dealt with harder. For someone treated the way Gaara had been, he was surprisingly cooperative. Kakashi would make sure Gaara knew he had enough self-esteem to look at adults in the eyes when they spoke.

"Hey!" Kakashi and Gaara looked up to spot Lee rocking a soaked shirt with Guy behind him.

"You finished quick." Kakashi noted and Lee gave him a thumbs up and smile.

"I must get back into my routine. How was shopping?" Lee asked and noticed Gaara and Kakashi shared a look before mentioning it was fun. Lee couldn't feel a weird pang in his chest. Jealousy, was it? "I am sorry I could not shop with you two. I would love to shop with you if you'd like to some time, Gaara." Lee said softly and Gaara nodded.

"Thank you Lee, although Kakashi and I already went through everything we were supposed to get. I don't care for shopping too much."

"Let's go home then." Kakashi stood up and Guy laughed happily.

"Yes! I'm starving. Gaara can make dinner tonight!" Lee went to argue with his dad but before he could Gaara responded.

"I'd love to." Lee was starting to realize he was becoming closer as a family with Gaara.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompts:
> 
> -Temari and Kankuro hugging Gaara  
> -Gaara baking for Kakashi and Gai (kind of)  
> -ooh Kakashi and Gai helping Gaara bake and being equally as terribble as Lee lol (kind of)

Chapter Fourteen:

"...What... what are you doing to the shrimp?" Gaara stared down at a bowl that had the shrimp and for whatever reason, also the cup of white wine needed to make the white wine sauce.

"I'm marinating the shrimp in the wine!" Gaara slowly looked up at Guy, then back down at the bowl.

"There is so much wrong with this, I honestly don't even know where to begin." Gaara rubbed his temple feeling a headache come on.

This had become sort of a tradition the past few days. Kakashi or Guy would try to impress Gaara with their "fancy" cooking and fail miserably. Lee begged them to stay with just regular home cooked meals, but they insisted to be fancy. Currently, Guy was failing miserably at Shrimp Scampi. A dish that Gaara said was too easy to screw up. It turns out, he was very wrong. 

"What's wrong with that?" Guy asked, upset and Gaara just continued to stare at the bowl.

"I think you broke him, Guy." Kakashi smirked and went back to reading at the kitchen table and Guy pouted.

"Sit down. I'll fix this." Lee laughed at Guy's grumble and watched as Guy joined them at the table.

"So Gaara, what did dad do wrong? I am curious." Lee asked as he leaned forward on his elbows sitting at the table.

"First off, you can't really marinade shrimp in liquids this thin. If it were a sauce that would be one thing. This? You're just soaking it in liquid that will be immediately cooked out of the shrimp once it's cooked. Second- wait. Did you put the garlic in here too??" Gaara asked after straining the shrimp and watching chunks of garlic come out from under the shrimp.

"I thought it would be a good flavor..." Guy mumbled and Gaara ran fingers through his hair and took in a deep breath.

"I see you also added the butter... And melted it. Did you literally add all of the ingredients to a bowl to 'marinade'? Do you know how to make shrimp scampi?" Guy pouted for the umpteenth time and Kakashi laughed even harder. "Please tell me there's more wine. I can't use this wine it's messed up the whole recipe."

Lee jumped up to get Lee the wine since Guy was sulking and Kakashi was too busy laughing at him. 

"So Gaara, what are the proper steps to making shrimp scampi?" Lee asked, throwing a teasing look at his dad.

"Step one. Add olive oil to the pan, cook shrimp. Take shrimp out. Step two, cook garlic until you can smell it. Step three, add wine and reduce. Step four, of your cup of butter, add a tablespoon at a time to slowly melt into the mixture without breaking it. Step five, add seasonings. Step six, add the shrimp back, voila, you're done. It is literally so easy to do." 

"Wow dad, you couldn't possibly mess up more than you did." Lee laughed and Kakashi wiped a tear from his eye.

"Fine then, Gaara can cook from now on."

"Fine." "Thank you." "Thank god."

"Rude."

***

Gaara looked at the computer screen. It was verifying his donation. Four thousand dollars to the donation to keep Kakashi and Guy's dojo opened. He made sure he clicked anonymous. 

***

"I can't believe the school is actually doing that lame Halloween dance thing." Naruto complained while he folded his homework into an airplane. Naruto, Lee, Sasuke and Gaara all sat on Lee's bed doing homework. Lee and Sasuke were at the head of the bed, Gaara was pressed against the wall at the foot of the bed, and Naruto laid sprawled across the middle.

"I thought that thing was cancelled because some guy threatened to bomb the school." Sasuke said nonchalantly. 

"It was just Deidara..." Naruto mumbled like that meant something.

"No, he was heavily reprimanded and we're having the dance anyway." Lee said as he solved his math problem. "Is anyone of you going?"

"I might so I can spike the punch bowl but I dunno." Naruto threw the airplane and it fell down within 4 inches.

"Of course you are, loser." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If Naruto goes I'll have to go and stop him from getting into trouble. But you Lee, are you going? With Sakura?" Sasuke smirked and Lee blushed and looked harder at his homework. Gaara's grip tightened on his pencil but he said nothing to draw attention to himself.

"W-well I am unsure. I really do not want to go but Sakura has asked me several times. I do not want to dress up..."

"Oh puh-leez. You can dress in your uwagi and be done with it." Naruto swatted his hand.

"Are you kidding? Sakura would throw a fit. 'Lee, you wore that sweaty thing to take me out?!' " Sasuke impersonated with a girlish shrill. 

"You guys are not nice to me." Lee said, face still burning. He glanced up to look at Gaara and noticed Gaara was not only not part of their conversation but it looked as though he was avidly trying to avoid being part of their conversation. "Are you going, Gaara?" Gaara looked up, slightly startled to hear his name. Lee repeated. "Are you going to the Halloween dance?"

"Um. No. Probably not." He shook his head and Sasuke looked up.

"Why not? You can yell at Naruto with me. It'll be fun." Naruto glowered.

"Sasuke, how are you going without a date? Haven't like 3,002 girls asked you already?" Sasuke scoffed and crossed his arms but said nothing. "They did! And you said no? Aw, shucks, Sasuke. You really know how to make a guy feel loved." Naruto teased and Sasuke scowled at him. 

"What is Sakura making you dress up as then?" Sasuke asked and Lee shrugged. "I'm amazed."

"She will probably show up to my house with a costume, honestly." Lee said simply and turned the attention back to Gaara.

"Why are you not going?" Gaara sighed.

"We are catering the party. Not all of it, just the desserts and such. I won't really have time to get a costume or get ready." Lee frowned.

"That is unfair. I do not want to go if you cannot go." He decided and put his homework to the side and grabbed his phone. "I am going to tell Sakura I am unable to attend."

"No Lee, it's fine, really." Gaara argued half-heartedly.

"We can throw fake blood on your work uniform!" Naruto offered. "Then you can be like a killer chef or something. There! No need to get ready."

"Naruto why the hell would he run his uniform for one party?" Naruto didn't comment.

"SO my idea is perfect without flaw-"

"No." Naruto pouted and ripped another piece of his homework out of his packet and began folding it.

"Suit yourself..."

***

The day of the Halloween dance, Gaara didn't see Lee at all. It was a Saturday and the past few days he'd been working such long hours to prep for the party that he hadn't had time to see Lee. It didn't help that Lee requested off on Saturday for... whatever reason. 

Gaara made trays and trays of cookies, brownies, pie tarts, and pretty much anything small that could be eaten with fingers. 

Temari was in the back with him now helping him package stuff into boxes for the school to pick them up (or Kankuro was delivering. Gaara didn't pay attention. It was right across the street so it didn't really matter.) She kept sending him worrying glances but he didn't pay her any mind. He knew why she kept looking at him. She wanted to ask about Lee, she was just being polite about it.

"Aren't you going to go to the dance?" She asked finally and Gaara shook his head slowly. "Why not? You worked pretty hard for it."

"I don't want to go." Gaara half-lied. He really didn't want to go to the dance but he wanted to see Lee. He didn't want Lee going to the dance with Sakura. It gave him such a burning feeling of hate that he couldn't swallow it. "Why don't we take a coffee break?" Gaara nodded reluctantly. It was 4, the dance started at 7 and they were mostly done packing. He was just getting frustrated.

Temari and Gaara situated themselves at the counter and Gaara slowly sipped his sweet drink and Temari sipped her hot bitter coffee. The door chime went off and both siblings looked up and Gaara stopped himself from scowling.

Sakura.

"Hello! Would you like your usual?" Temari asked and that question just made Gaara even angrier. She was a regular? Gaara grit his teeth and took a step back, letting Temari work on Sakura's drink. 

He watched her brew a shot of espresso, pour milk, pour sweetened condensed milk, a shot of vanilla, ice, espresso on top and whipped cream.

That was his drink. Why did Sakura drink his drink? His heart thudded angrily in his chest, he could tell he was flushed and quickly looked at the ground.

"Oh! Can I please get a cinnamon roll? I want to surprise my boyfriend. They're his favorite." She said cutely and Gaara turned around with as much calmness as he could muster and walked to the kitchen slowly. He didn't want Sakura to think she annoyed him. She couldn't know she won. She probably came here on purpose. 

Gaara put down his coffee with shaky hands and walked to his makeshift bedroom in the storage closet and laid on the lumpy mattress and stared at the ceiling. His body ached, his heart burned and his eyes stung. He wished he would stop trembling, he couldn't keep himself still. His breathing was heavy and he bit down hard on his thumb.

Lee never told him that he was dating Sakura. He always skated around that subject. Why would he keep it from him? Gaara lived with him, Gaara spent all his free time with Lee. Lee was Gaara's best friend and Lee didn't find himself worthy to tell him he was dating someone. Why Sakura?

Gaara was angry. He was angry thinking about Lee sweetly making Sakura a drink he made for Lee. The thought of her coming in while he was working and him drawing sappy hearts all over the stupid cup, saying something equally as sappy like 'I made this especially for you. It's sweet like you' or some dumb shit like that. Him buying her drinks or not even charging her. Him buying pastries at the end of his shift, after saying bye to Gaara and going and sharing pastries GAARA MADE with HER. Gaara worked himself up so bad he was having a hard time breathing. When did it become so hard to breathe?

Temari opened the door slowly and saw her brother having a panic attack on the futon and rushed to his side.

"Honey, what's wrong? Gaara? Are you ok?" She pulled him into her chest and held him tightly and rubbed his back with circles, trying to calm him down. "I love you Gaara. I love you so much." She said softly as she rocked and he broke and cried.

Temari never saw her brother cry like that.

***

Lee didn't visit.

Gaara laid in the dark storage closet and stared at the clock's blurry red numbers. It was almost passed midnight and Lee hadn't come for a visit. He didn't stop there on the way to the party or stop on the way back. He didn't text to see if Gaara needed a ride back to the house. Nothing.

He was with Sakura.

Gaara closed his eyes and fell asleep, his body completely exhausted from feeling.

***

When Gaara woke up, it was 9 in the morning on Sunday. He usually woke up earlier than that but he was exhausted. 

He sat up and ran his fingers through his very messy hair and looked at his phone. Dead. He pocketed it and took several deep breaths. He didn't want to go out there. What if Lee was there? 

When Gaara finally got his nerve, he opened the door and peered out into the kitchen. Temari was there baking things off and Gaara frowned.

"I'm sorry Temari. You should've woken me up." He said quietly and Temari looked up, almost like she'd seen a ghost. She was at Gaara's side in an instant and hugged him.

"Hey Temari, I was wondering if-" Kankuro paused when he saw the tender moment he was interrupting and didn't say anything else, just walked over and joined the hug. He saw Gaara's face. He looked terrible. He didn't know why, but Lee wasn't here so maybe it was him?

"Is Lee here?" Gaara's question was muffled in Temari's shirt.

"No honey, he requested the whole weekend off." 

Well... Where was Lee?

"I did get a few calls from Kakashi and Guy though. They were worried about where you were. I told them I stayed with you last night. They said to let them know when you and Lee wouldn't be coming home." Gaara's eyes opened and he felt the ache again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say in an earlier chapter that Gaara and Lee wouldn't be together for a while, didn't I?


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't remember if I did any prompts or not. Mommy-brain. Sorry. I'll check later.
> 
> I'm pregnant and all I want is thanksgiving food. I can't make my stuffing because they don't have the right sausage here. I'm so sad.

Chapter Fifteen:

Gaara sat on the couch at Just Desserts and stared at a wall. It was already two hours passed their closing time and he just sat and stared. He insisted that Temari go home. It must have been uncomfortable to sleep on this couch last night. He didn't need her worrying more than necessary. 

He heard a tap on the door and his heart jumped into his throat. When he turned, he got a strange feeling of déjà vu. He got up, let Kakashi in and closed the door behind him. Gaara didn't bother with pleasantries. Him and Kakashi never were one for those anyway. Kakashi followed him to the couch and Gaara sat back down and stared at the wall again.

"Lee wasn't with you last night, was he?" There was a tone of defeat. Gaara gave a curt nod and Kakashi sighed. "I'm so sorry Gaara." Gaara nodded again and Kakashi sat slightly closer to him. "Boys are stupid. Especially ones with Guy's DNA. Trust me, I'd know." Gaara felt a slight crack in his resolve and looked at Kakashi for a second. "Having a crush on someone sucks, I know. It sucks even more when you're a teenager and the guy you like is dating a girl. It's just confusing. I promise you that Lee cares about you though. Don't take that as putting him before yourself. If you need time away from him, you do that, ok?" Gaara nodded again. "I mean it. Don't put his needs over your own. Lee didn't mean to hurt you, he still did though and your feelings are still valid." Gaara rest his head on Kakashi's shoulder and Kakashi took a deep breath.

"Thanks Kakashi." Gaara said quietly and Kakashi nudged him with his elbow.

"Anytime kid. Now why don't you find the remote for these TV's and we can stare at something entertaining."

***

"Where is Kakashi?" Lee asked when he saw Guy sitting at the kitchen table alone. Guy gave him a look that said Lee was in trouble and Lee tentatively walked into the room and sat down. "What?"

"You didn't tell me where you went last night." Guy said with a frown. "I thought I taught you better than that." Lee had the graciousness to look ashamed.

"I know, dad. It was completely my fault. What happened was this, and I am not standing up for my atrocious behavior, I am just telling you what happened. When we all got to the party, Naruto snuck off and Sasuke followed him and it was just Sakura and I. Well, I got really nervous because... you saw how silly my costume was. And Sakura looked very pretty and I do not know how to talk to her half the time. Anyway, I offered to get her something to drink and that is when I fell into Naruto's prank. I was so nervous I had forgotten that Naruto was going to spike the punch bowl and I had so much to drink because I was sweating and the next thing I know I woke up in Sakura's house in the guest room. She said she did not want to bring me home because she was not sure how you and Kakashi would react to me being so drunk. After that I was just throwing up most of the day. I feel terrible. I did not even spend time with Sakura or Naruto or Sasuke. They came over to her house to make fun of me though so I saw them briefly but then I got sick again and they left and called me gross... Anyway, that is what happened and I am sorry, dad." Lee was staring at the table, away from his father's eyes. He didn't want to see the disappointment.

"Where was Gaara?" Was the only question Guy had.

"What?" The question surprised Lee. Honestly, he hadn't even thought of where Gaara had been all that time.

"He didn't come home last night. We assumed you two were together." Lee looked horrified.

"Oh. I-Is he home now?" Lee stood up and Guy shook his head. "W-where is he?"

"Kakashi went to go look for him." Lee's eyes filled with tears. 

"I am a terrible friend." He realized and sat back down. Guy didn't respond so Lee could only assume he agreed.

"Just... remember. No relationship is worth your friends. You've been distant from us and him ever since you and Sakura got together. I bet Gaara doesn't even know why." Lee looked down at the floor. "Have you even told him?"

"...No." 

"Why not?"

"... I... I do not know." Lee hugged his knees to his chest. 

***

When Kakashi and Gaara got home two hours later, Lee jumped out of his bed and was standing at the top of the stairs. He saw Gaara's bright red hair and so many feelings washed over him, he didn't know which one to portray. 

Lee didn't like seeing Gaara when he was with Sakura. When Lee and Sakura decided to date, it was uncomfortable. Lee felt like he didn't have much of a say in it and he was too polite to speak up. He convinced himself he should be thrilled, this is what he wanted since he first saw her. She was a wonderful girlfriend, very doting. She wasn't mean to him or call him names. She visited him at work a lot, even before they got together. When Lee saw Gaara... That's when Lee felt things. Felt things people in relationships should feel for each other. He got the erratic heartbeat, the sweaty palms, the nervous laugh, getting flustered over nothing and the all around feeling of comfort and warmth. Being with Sakura was nice, but it felt forced. Like a close friends thing as opposed to a relationship. Lee felt like a terrible boyfriend. Every time Sakura would surprise him at home, he wished Gaara was back from work. When Sakura kissed his cheek, he wondered how Gaara's lips would feel there instead. Lee didn't know how long he could stay in the relationship with Sakura but he really didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was a very nice girl.

All thoughts of Sakura dissipated when Gaara placed his hand on the wooden banister and looked up the steps, ready to walk up them. His aquamarine eyes locked with Lee's and they stared at each other for a moment. Lee couldn't place all his emotions but the one thing he knew was looking at Gaara he felt so much for him he wanted to burst.

Lee opened his mouth to say something-anything. He couldn't. Gaara's eyes narrowed at him. 

When Lee first met Gaara he thought Gaara had the most doe-eyed face because the dark rings around his eyes and they beautiful color with curve of his cute button nose and those beautiful lips. He looked like a raccoon. The cutest raccoon Lee ever saw. He couldn't imagine an instance where those eyes would look anything other than innocent.

Until right then. 

That's when Lee noticed how dangerously spiky Gaara's hair was, untamed and wild. Such a deep red that matched his kanji tattoo that seemed to represent anything but love. Lee saw the slits those big eyes could become and how they appeared darker than Lee'd ever seen. Above Gaara's nose and inbetween his eyes creased when he was angry. Lee never thought he would see that, but there he was. His cute nose was scrunched in a way that said he was displeased and the curl of his lip added to the affect. Gaara didn't look cute. Gaara looked dangerous. 

Lee remembered all of the shy smiles Gaara sent his way. He remembered the softness of his eyes when he taught Lee how to roll out pie dough and how he didn't get mad at him for over rolling it or tearing it. Gaara was so patient with him. This was a new look and Lee knew instantly it was him that Gaara was angry at. Gaara found out he was with Sakura. Gaara finally had enough of being ignored. Gaara was angry at Lee for not even seeing him yesterday when Lee told him he didn't want to go to the dance if Gaara wasn't there and then went anyway to appease a girl that just. Wasn't. Gaara.

It felt like this moment took forever whereas it took place over the span of several seconds. Gaara ascended the stairs and gave Lee such a look that Lee didn't stop to ask any question, he let him go. And Gaara did. He walked right to his room, closed the door, and Lee didn't say a single word to him.

***

Temari stared at the paper in front of her and couldn't stop blinking. She was confused.

"You're... quitting?" She asked and looked up at Lee from his two week notice. Lee gave an awkward smile.

"Yes. I am sorry. I did not expect to leave so soon, but it appears luck is on our side. I came here to raise money for my father's dojo. While I have not raised the money myself, we were told today that someone anonymously donated four-thousand dollars to the dojo! It is a miracle. I have to go back to the dojo, I am an instructor there. I hope you do not mind, I am sorry for not giving more notice than this." Temari stared at it and pursed her lips. Four thousand dollars, huh? Only one person she knew with ties to the family that just came in with that kind of money. 

"No, Lee. This is legally the amount of time you have to give, that's fine with me. My thoughts are, don't even work the two weeks. The dojo is your family business and you should really put all of your effort in that. Don't worry about us, we have enough people and even some resumes. You're fine. Thank you for your hard work and if you ever need a job or a letter of recommendation, I will gladly give you both." Lee smiled at Temari even though that wasn't what he wanted to hear. He wanted two more weeks working with Gaara. "Good luck with your dojo, Lee."

***

"Gaara?" Temari walked into the kitchen and watched Gaara put the finishing touches on the rainbow cookies.

"Yes?" He seemed to be deep in thought.

"Lee just quit." Gaara stopped what he was doing and slowly put both arms to rest on his workbench. His lips pursed and he looked at the half done rainbow cookies. "He said he was here to raise money for the dojo but some kind anonymous person donated four-thousand dollars. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Gaara laughed and shook his head. It was a dry, desperate laugh that seemed foreign to Temari's ears.

"Naturally." Gaara bit his lip and shook his head, trying to brush it off and went back to layering the chocolate on top of the cookies.

"...are you okay?" Temari asked slowly and Gaara slammed the bowl of chocolate and the offset spatula onto the workbench.

"Yes I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be? I give literally EVERYTHING I have to him and still-NOTHING." Gaara's shoulders tensed up and he glared at the cookies. 

"Honey why don't you go home or something to relax. Ino will be here soon." Gaara almost forgot about their second baker. It's been so long since he's seen her. He was pretty sure they went to school together but he never really saw her. Or he never tried to pay attention.

"I don't care. I'm finishing my list." Gaara insisted and quickly worked with the chocolate before it solidified on top. "These are really fucking ugly." Gaara said with an angry pout and Temari giggled at him. Gaara trimmed the cookies and Temari reached in and grabbed some scraps and he glared at her as she ate them. "Do you mind?"

"I love rainbow cookies. Even the really fucking ugly ones. I hear they're especially good." 

"Oh wow! I finally see Gaara! This is new." Gaara looked up and Ino was walking to the bathroom. Temari glanced up at Gaara to gauge his mood. He didn't seem to be bothered.

"Are you going to be okay?" He rolled his eyes at her.

"Are you kidding? I'm working with fucking Ino today. So she's going to take my space up to make croissants. My fucking favorite thing." Temari smirked at him.

"You seem to like cursing lately." She noted and ate more scraps.

"Just in that kind of mood, I guess." He mumbled and got out the pastry cutter and evenly scored lines on the tops of the cookies.

"To be fair we have two work benches." Temari bargained and Gaara ignored her and cut his cookies with precision. "Beautiful."

"Hey Gaara!" Kankuro burst through the doors, startling everyone and almost making Gaara cut off his finger. "I've been thinking, are you going to cook thanksgiving this year?" Gaara looked up with a perked brow.

"Why would I made such an Americanized meal?" Kankuro sat on the workbench parallel to Gaara and Gaara scowled at the contact with Kankuro's butt and a place he worked. 

"Because you did last year and it was awesome. Come on, let's do it. We're in America anyway. It's a few weeks away. We can eat here! You can invite your other friends too." Gaara stared at Kankuro blankly.

"You want me to cook an entire thanksgiving meal, then tell me I can invite whom I want like I wouldn't do that anyway?" Kankuro nodded and Gaara rolled his eyes. "Go play with your puppets and leave me alone."

"No! Seriously! We should do it! I'll help! I'll... I'll buy everything!" Gaara looked up again.

"You want thanksgiving that badly?" Kankuro grinned. 

"Hell yeah I do. I really want stuffing." Ino walked out from the bathroom.

"Stuffing? That isn't the best part. It's the cranberry sauce." She said simply and everyone stared at her. "What?"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." Gaara mumbled and grabbed a plate to put the cookies on. "No one likes cranberry sauce."

"I do!" Ino argued with a smile. "It's my favorite! Why are we talking about thanksgiving dinner anyway?"

"Oh, Gaara is going to make it." Kankuro said simply and Temari snorted when Gaara stopped what he was doing and looked up at Kankuro with a look to kill.

"When did I say yes?" Kankuro swatted his hand.

"It's fine. You were bound to. Anyway, are you going to make us some croissants for our thanksgiving dinner, Ino?" Kankuro asked and Ino grinned.

"Only if I'm invited!" Gaara groaned loudly.

"I told you that you should've went home before..." Temari mumbled and Gaara glared at her. "Just sayin..."

"Thank you for your help and words of encouragement, Temari." Gaara said flatly. "What ever would I have done without you?"

"Who knows? Maybe if I wasn't here you would've decided to go home on your own and then wouldn't have to deal with this anyway. We'll never know. But now you're stuck making Thanksgiving dinner."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Currently I'm pregnant and throwing up multiple times a day so it's nice when I get a comment that makes me happy. I'm so miserable right now. Save me. 
> 
> They put corn on pizza here in Hungary. I can't look at corn anymore.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixeen:

"Hey Gaara!" Gaara glanced up from his locker and was surprised to see his work collogue, Ino. He tilted his head to the side but said nothing and she rolled her eyes. "What? Can't say hello to you in school?" She laughed and leaned against the lockers next to him.

"You never did before." He pointed out and she shrugged.

"Well now I am." Gaara perked a brow and wondered in the back of his mind if Temari had set this up somehow. "How has your week been so far?"

"Uneventful. I've been preparing for thanksgiving mostly since it's next week. Kankuro brings me to the store a lot to help me get things but I can't remember everything I need. I usually write a list but I haven't had time." Ino nodded in sympathy. 

"Ino-pig." A familiar voice scoffed and Ino looked up with an eye roll.

"At least my forehead isn't the prime location for a drive-in movie." Ino spat and Gaara glanced up and noticed it was Sakura who was arguing with Ino. He tried to hide a smirk and quickly moved his attention to his locker. "Sorry about that. Sakura and I don't get along."

"What a coincidence." Gaara mumbled and Ino perked at that.

"You don't like her either?" She asked with interest.

"What would it matter if I didn't?" Ino smirked at him.

"An enemy of my enemy is my friend and all. Looks like we have more in common than I thought." Ino linked her arms with Gaara and he faltered for a moment before taking it in stride. Lee was the only one he let touch him but if he were to wait for Lee to give him any type of physical affection, he would be dead with how often he went without seeing his friend. Especially now since Lee was on the track team and training at the dojo. He got to see Lee when he came home at night and lately they almost never talked.

For the first time in a while, Gaara went to class feeling confident with having a new friend. Not that he was completely sure that's what Ino was, but it was a start.

***

"Lee." Lee winced at the tone Sakura had. She was not happy. 

"Yes, my blossom?" Lee said sweetly and turned to face her. She grabbed his hand roughly. Her mood was sour.

"Saw that stupid Ino-pig again. She made fun of my forehead again." She mumbled angrily and Lee frowned.

"That is not nice. Your forehead is a perfect size. She is only jealous of your beauty." Lee attempted to placate. It didn't seem to work.

"I doubt that. And your new friend didn't seem to rush to my defense either." Sakura's tone in "friend" had Lee doubt that was used as a compliment.

"What new friend?" He asked and Sakura looked up and saw Ino and Gaara, arm in arm.

"Him." She said with distaste. Lee looked to Sakura and followed her line of gaze and his heart skipped in his chest when his eyes landed on that gorgeous head of unkempt waves of hair. Gaara. Lee felt the familiar ache in his chest he had whenever he looked at Gaara. He missed him so badly but he knew he really hurt his feelings so what was there to say?

Lee said nothing and Sakura observed him just watch them. His eyes were glued to the back of Gaara's head. Lee drank in every movement Gaara made and his felt a very foreign feeling of jealousy grip at his throat making it hard for him to even speak. Why was Ino holding Gaara like that? Why was Gaara holding Ino like that? Sakura noticed the exact moment when Lee's eyes glazed over and hardened. She never saw that look on Lee. What was wrong? Was he that angry at Gaara? 

"Lee?" Lee blinked himself out of it and the emotions were gone and replaced with his normal expression.

"Yes?" Almost like he forgot they were in the middle of the conversation. Maybe he did forget.

"Are you okay?" Lee's expression faltered for a second and he quickly smiled and masked it.

"Of course. I will see you later today, alright?" Lee quickly walked away and Sakura didn't even notice they made it to her class. She watched Lee disappear in the sea of students and frowned. She hoped he was okay. 

***

The end of the day came and Gaara just showered and got dressed after gym. He hated gym with a passion and barely did anything but walk on the track. It seemed that he needed that walk to clear his head. Only problem was he didn't realize how late it was and most of the class was already showered and gone. If he had a bus to catch, he would be screwed. Good thing he only had to walk across the street to work.

"Gaara!" Gaara was getting annoyed with how many times he was being interrupted today. He wanted to be left alone. What was so hard about that?

Gaara glanced over and saw Lee. What was Lee doing in the locker room? Gaara's mouth pressed into a thin line and he didn't say anything. Lee looked... haunted. He went to say something, the closed his mouth. He did that several times and his eyebrows pushed together and he frowned. He looked like he was thinking really hard and suddenly he was in front of Gaara, hugging him so tight Gaara thought he would die of asphyxiation. 

"I miss you. I miss you so much. I am so sorry for everything. Please do not be mad at me anymore. I cannot take it. You mean so much to me Gaara. I have been a terrible friend but please, forgive me. I will be better, I promise." Lee hiccupped at the end and Gaara's eyes widened a fraction and he pushed Lee away just enough to look at his face. Lee was crying. Why was he crying?

"Why are you crying?" Gaara asked with so much confusion.

"Because you are special to me and we are not talking. We live together and we do not talk anymore. I love..." Lee bit his lip. "I love being your friend and I miss you. Can we please be friends?"

Gaara stared into Lee's rounded eyes, he could never be angry with those eyes. That's why Gaara avoided him. He wanted to be angry but he couldn't. Kakashi told him that he shouldn't let Lee get away with things if they hurt his feelings, he should respect himself enough to stand up for himself. How could he with Lee so close to him? All he wanted was to stay in those arms all day. He wanted to sleep next to Lee at night, he wanted Lee's sweater back, the one with his last name. The one that Sakura had now. It made him burn with jealousy and Gaara was sure he'd burn alive but he couldn't ignore Lee anymore.

Gaara didn't say anything. He just hugged Lee back. Slowly at first, but Lee immediately clung to him like a starved animal and held him tight. Gaara's hold tightened a bit and Lee and him stood in the locker room in a hug that Gaara wished would never end.

"I love..." Gaara started quietly and pulled away from Lee again. Looking into his eyes made his heart thud and Gaara was shaking before he knew it. "I love being your friend too, Lee." Lee smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

***

"How was work, Gaara?" Lee asked, leaning against the doorframe. Gaara was sitting at his window in his kitchen garb, hair still in a headband and absolutely everywhere. Lee could've swooned at the sight.

"I've been very busy preparing for thanksgiving, actually." Gaara admitted and sighed. "It's been a pain to do both so Ino has upped her hours for the next two weeks. She's been surprisingly helpful." Gaara pulled off the headband and Lee smiled softly at the wisps of hair sticking haphazardly. 

"I see you've been hanging out with her more at school." Lee said simply but Gaara noticed there was something hanging on the end of the sentence. He wasn't sure what.

"Yes, she and I have been a good team at work and I suppose she just wanted another friend. Who knows, maybe she's sucking up to Temari by befriending her lonely brother." Gaara said wryly and Lee frowned and walked in closer.

"Would you like to watch a movie with me? In my room?" Gaara looked up and his body got goosebumps at the innocent question.

"I need to shower." Gaara said simply and Lee grinned.

"Me too." Gaara was just noticing he was in his uwagi. How did he not notice before? He looked... Gaara couldn't even think of an adjective. He did know looking at Lee like that sent his body into overdrive. "We can shower, get into our pajamas and then watch it." Gaara nodded and Lee smiled happily. 

***

Lee rushed through his shower routine and knocked on Gaara's door even though it was opened. Gaara looked up from the window and saw Lee with a towel wrapped around his hips, his body still glistening with water and his wet hair stuck to his face and neck. Gaara gaped.

"Shower is all yours!" Oh that smile was doing strange things to Gaara's emotions. 

Lee went to his room and got dressed at a speed that he wasn't sure he had. When he was done, he looked in a mirror at himself and just stared. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he looked at himself. Almost as if he were appraising himself for Gaara. Was he even good enough for him?

Lee's face turned red and he shook his head. He shouldn't think of that. He was with Sakura. Before he could reprimand himself further he heard the sound of squeaking shower knobs and knew just on the other side of his wall, Gaara was standing there naked in the stream of the water. Lee bit his lip harshly and couldn’t break his gaze away from the wall. What did Gaara look like completely naked? Why couldn't he stop thinking about it?

Lee averted his attention and looked back at his dresser where he had all of his pajamas. He grabbed his favorite flannel shirt that was twice the size he needed and a pair of pants. He walked over to the towel closet and grabbed a fresh towel and opened the door to the laundry room. It was across the hall from the bathroom. He threw them into the dryer and jogged downstairs and threw popcorn in the microwave and started to warm up milk on the stove. Kakashi and Guy weren't home tonight. Guy was way too excited about the dojo being opened again and the two decided to go through plans for the dojo over dinner. (Well that's what they told Lee anyway.)

One of the things Lee did during Christmas was he made homemade hot chocolate powder for his friends. It was cheap, easy, and he had fun decorating the cans he gifted them in. He still had a large container for himself, he even had a few flavors. He picked French vanilla and added it to the milk and poured it into two mugs and took the popcorn out of the microwave and put it into a bowl and placed them on his bedside. He turned the TV on and picked a random scary movie, as they were Gaara's favorites, and walked back to the dryer. He took the clothes out and folded them nicely and stood outside the bathroom door with his heart hammering in his chest. The shower was still on so he should be able to walk in without problem. He was just worried he'd startle Gaara or Gaara would think him weird.

Lee summoned the courage and quietly opened the door. He looked around the room and saw Gaara's towel and switched it with the one he warmed. He put the shirt next to it and paused for a second. Was... Gaara... Singing?

Lee looked at the shower curtain and tried to pay close attention and yes, Gaara was singing. It was very quiet and he could barely hear it but it was unmistakable. Lee wished he could hear it without the sound of the bathroom fan or the shower water hitting the bath. 

Not wanting to get caught, Lee snuck out of the bathroom but stayed close to the door to try and hear the words Gaara was singing. When the shower was turned off, Lee quickly and quietly moved to his room and sat on his bed, vowing he would hear Gaara sing one day without any noise distractions.

***

Gaara stepped out of the tub and grabbed for his towel and brought it to his face and rubbed the water off, then paused. Why was the towel so warm? He opened his eyes and looked closer at the towel. It wasn't his normal towel. This one was a dark green color. Gaara bought his own and they were a salmon color. He opened the towel further and wrapped it around his shoulders. It was so warm and nice. Gaara snuggled closer into it and sat on the ledge of the bathtub. He looked by his towel and saw a pair of Lee's pajamas. His favorite pair. Lee looked adorable in them since they were so big. How did Lee know they were his favorite?

Gaara's face warmed when he realized Lee was in the bathroom and went through the trouble of warming his towel for him. Wasn't that something significant others did? Gaara dried off quickly and grabbed the clothes and couldn't help the smile. They were warm too.

***

Lee watched Gaara walk into his room and smiled. Gaara was swimming in that shirt. Lee patted the spot next to him on the bed and Gaara climbed up and looked at the side of the bed and saw popcorn and hot chocolate.

"You went all out. I told you I forgave you already." Gaara said with a smirk and Lee surprisingly didn't flush.

"I just wanted to show you I care very much about you." He said honestly and Gaara smiled softly and grabbed his cup and handed Lee the other one and pulled the popcorn bowl between them. "I picked a horror movie for you too."

"You spoil me." Lee smiled.

As the movie went on, they shifted closer to each other. They started out sitting on the blankets on opposite ends of the bed and ended up with their hips pressed against each other, under the blankets. The popcorn was done, the cups on the nightstand and Lee wanted to just get closer. 

Gaara leaned his head on Lee's shoulder and Lee waited a second and moved his arm so it was around Gaara and Gaara fell into Lee's chest. He felt Lee's erratic heartbeat on his cheek and he froze, unsure what to do. 

Slowly he moved his arm so it was resting on Lee's chest and he felt Lee relax under him and Gaara watched the movie on the screen but said nothing. Gaara soon felt the touch of Lee's fingers on his hand. He looked at Lee's hand, playing with his own and Gaara's hand twitched up to play with his hand back and soon he felt Lee threading their fingers together and let his hand rest there on his stomach with his thumb rubbing soothing circle's on Gaara's hand. Cuddled up with Lee felt like the most perfect feeling in the world. Cuddled up with Gaara set every nerve he had on fire and Lee didn't want to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost the baby.
> 
> I don't know when I will feel... enough to write. It could go either way. 
> 
> Thanks for reading. I hope I can update soon. I'm just a bit... empty now.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With everything going on I thought it would take me longer to write but as it turns out my mind just wants to be distracted. This chapter is twice the length of my normal chapters. I usually write 5 pages, this one is 10. Enjoy.

Chapter Seventeen:

 

Gaara couldn't stop thinking about Lee. He was in math class drawing a blank on his entire worksheet because all he thought about was the softness of Lee's skin on his chest and the roughness of the callouses on his hands. Gaara would rub his neck absentmindedly, feeling the ghost tickle of Lee's hair or breath on his skin. That was only 4 days ago and every night since then, Lee would invite him back into his room to watch a movie and each time they would find themselves a tangled heap on the bed. Last night their legs were entwined, Gaara was laying on Lee's chest with his hand resting over Lee's heart and Lee had his arms wrapped around Gaara's waist. It never seemed close enough. 

Both of them would fall asleep before the movie was over. Gaara fell asleep because it was so nice for once having someone holding him so tightly, it was a warmth he never knew. Lee would fall asleep after he felt Gaara slip away and hear the soft snores that seemed like a lullaby each time. Lee would wait until he was sure Gaara was really sound asleep and he would kiss the top of his head, shut the TV off and whisper an "I love you". Each time Lee said it, his skin burned with desire and his heart skipped a beat and also ached at the prospect of never getting the chance to tell him when he was awake.

Lee was distracted too. He was biting his eraser absentmindedly and just thinking about how warm Gaara was. His heart was pounding in his chest at the thought of holding him again. 

It was Friday so that might be difficult. Gaara worked late Friday and Sakura usually wanted to do something on weekends. She's been weird lately though. Especially when she saw Gaara. Lee's heart stopped. Did Sakura suspect something with Gaara? Lee took a deep breath. No, how could she? Even if she did, he didn't do anything wrong. Watching a movie wasn't wrong. Plus, him Sasuke and Naruto had sleepovers all of the time and it was fine. Sasuke and Naruto, shit. When was the last time Lee hung out with them? Lee looked around the room and his eyes landed on Sasuke. Naruto wasn't in this class because he's Naruto. It didn't take long for Sasuke to look over at him, feeling Lee's big eyes staring him down. Sasuke perked a brow. 

"Movie?" Lee asked and Sasuke's confused expression melted away and he nodded. Lee grinned at him and went back to writing.

***

Lee and Sakura walked into the library and Lee's eyes landed on Sasuke and Naruto. They were in the middle of an argument and Lee jogged over, leaving Sakura annoyed for being momentarily abandoned. 

"Hey Naruto. Movie night at my house. Are you going to come?" Sakura frowned at that and Naruto agreed.

"Hell yeah, wait is this loser coming?" He kicked Sasuke's leg and Sasuke pushed him out of his chair. "Ow, what the hell?"

"Idiot." Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms. Lee and Sakura shared a look and Lee turned back to his friends. 

"Yes. I imagine Gaara will be there too." Naruto smiled at that and Sasuke smirked.

"Why is Gaara going to be there?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Because Lee is his like bestie for life. Have you seen them?" Naruto laughed and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Because Gaara lives with him, would you like Lee to kick him out of his own house?" Sakura blushed slightly and shook her head.

"Oh no. That's not what I meant. I didn't know Gaara lived with you. How long has he lived with you?" Sakura asked and Naruto looked at Sakura like she was really stupid.

"How the hell have you dated Lee this entire time and didn't know Gaara lived with him? They've lived together for like a month or whatever." Sakura glared at Naruto.

"The topic never arose. Why is he living with you anyway?" She demanded and Lee sat down at the table and tried his best to hide from her glare. Why was she so angry about it anyway.

"None of your business." Sasuke said flatly. Lee was grateful for the comment that he obviously couldn't say. He wasn't sure if Sasuke was aware of the situation or not but he liked that he knew enough to state that it wasn't anyone's business but Gaara's and his own. 

"I wasn't asking you, Sasuke." Sakura said simply and looked back at Lee expectantly.

"Honestly, Sakura, it really is not. It is personal and I do not feel comfortable disclosing my friend's business." Lee said quietly and opened his folder, ignoring the flare of red on Sakura's cheeks she got when she was annoyed. There was nothing she could say that would make Lee tell her about the neglect and abuse Gaara faced at home. Before Sakura could say something sooner, a loud voice was heard and her face darkened.

The whole table looked at the door and Ino was laughing jovially at something Gaara said which was a strange sight for anyone. The thing Lee focused on though was that their arms were locked again. Why did they always walk like that? Lee tried to swallow down his jealousy but found it was harder than he thought. Gaara looked his way and waved at them but didn't sit with them. Him and Ino sat at a table further away and hidden. Lee's heart was hammering and he tried to see where they sat but they were completely out of view.

"I can't believe your friend is friends with that... slag." Sakura huffed and Lee frowned. He didn't like anyone being disrespected, it wasn't his style. But what was Gaara doing with Ino all the time? Were they dating?

Sasuke and Naruto noticed Lee's grip on his pencil tightened and then snapped in two places. They looked at each other with a frown. They wondered how long this could go on for and sighed.

Gaara and Ino sat by the window on the opposite end of the library. They both pulled out cookbooks and were dog-earing the pages they wanted to save for later. Gaara was writing stuff down in his notebook and Ino was writing notes.

"Sakura didn't seem to happy to see us." Ino said after a moment of silence and Gaara nodded.

"Good." Ino grinned at him.

"You really don't like her do you?" Gaara shook his head with minimal movement. "Why?" Gaara paused. He stopped writing, he stopped reading, his body just froze. Ino nodded. "You like Lee." Gaara's face burned instantly and Ino touched his hand and he looked up at her. "It wasn't a question. I know you do."

"What does it matter?" Gaara asked stiffly and Ino smiled slyly. 

"You going to let that big foreheaded brat get in the way of you and the guy you like?" She challenged and Gaara nodded slowly and she frowned. "Why?"

"Because he picked her." Gaara said quietly. "He had the time to pick me and didn't. If she makes him happy, then I'm glad for it."

"Ugh, you're a junior. You shouldn't be mature yet. Come on, be petty with me. Let's break them up." She begged and Gaara shook his head and she sighed dramatically. "Fine..." She smirked suddenly. "But honestly I don't think it would take much considering he's coming over here." Gaara stiffened and suddenly Lee was sitting at the table with them. Ino noticed how kind his eyes were. She always thought Lee was... ugly to put it politely. With his dumb haircut and his big eyebrows. She watched Gaara look at him and just examined their interaction.

"Hey Gaara." The way he said Gaara's name was soft and fond. "I'm hosting a movie night tonight with my friends. I was extending the invitation to you and your friends." He looked at Ino with a soft smile and she looked at him confused. Why would he invite her if her and Sakura didn't get along?

"Thank you, Lee. I don't think it's necessary though. Ino and I are busy tonight." The comment was totally innocent, they really were busy, they were going to be prepping pie crusts and filling for the thanksgiving rush. She noticed though that Lee winced. He almost looked hurt. She knew exactly what Lee thought and she couldn't help but smile.

"Oh no, honey." She said sweetly. "We should watch at least one movie with them. They are your friends after all. We can go after." 

"That means we'll get done much later though." Gaara said with a hint of confusion. 

"If we pull an all nighter we can just sleep in later. It'll be the weekend after all. We don't need to be at work tomorrow at a set time." Gaara thought about it. They hired another baker, part time at his job. This baker was only there from 5am-8am. Their job was to bake all the pre-made things for the day this way Gaara didn't have to waste his time doing it. This allowed him to have more flexibility. He nodded.

"Okay. We'll be there. Thank you, Lee." Lee's expression was uncomfortable and Gaara couldn't understand why but Ino just smiled sweetly at Lee and waved at him goodbye and he walked away. "What was his problem?"

"Oh honey, he likes you." Ino grinned. "He's jealous."

"What would he be jealous of? He doesn't like me." Gaara argued and Ino rolled her eyes. Boys could be so clueless sometimes.

***

Ino and Gaara walked into the house a few minutes passed seven. Lee said he wanted the movie to start earlier so Gaara could be done earlier. Gaara thanked him and Ino bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. 

They both placed pastry boxes on the counter and Naruto and Sasuke stood up from the kitchen table.

"What did you two bring?" Naruto asked and Gaara opened his box and it was overflowing with pastries. Ino brought some too.

"Thank you very much you two." Lee said happily. Gaara dug into his bag and pulled out a box and handed it to him. "A cinnamon roll. Thank you." Gaara nodded and looked at Ino.

"Come on. We'll be right back." Lee looked at them, they were in work clothes. Chef jacket, checkered pants and a headband. Lee's eyes narrowed watching them go upstairs.

Gaara brought Ino to his room and she looked around and admired it. He opened his dresser and pulled out a pair of his pajamas he bought recently. Ino walked over and dug through the same drawer. He raised his eyebrow and she smiled.

"I don't want to be stuck in these clothes." Gaara nodded and Ino picked out a simple pair of pajama pants and one of Gaara's white t-shirts and got changed. It didn't occur to either of them for one of them to leave the room until they were both dressed and turned to face each other. "Shut up, you're gay I'm not worried." Ino said simply and opened the door. Gaara rolled his eyes and followed her downstairs.

Lee looked up from the couch and saw Ino in Gaara's pajamas. He didn't think a sight could hurt more until he saw Gaara in his own pajamas. He always wore Lee's. 

The TV was set up and the coffee table had an array of desserts, soda and popcorn. The couch was a large L couch that everyone could fit on easily. Sasuke sat on the end, leaning on the arm of the couch, Naruto was next to him with a bowl of popcorn, there was an empty cushion and then there was Lee. Gaara didn't know where to sit. He stood awkwardly for a minute until Sakura sat down next to Lee and cuddled into his side. Ino sat in the corner of the couch, a cushion away from Lee and Sakura and she looked at Gaara and he sat in front of her instead of next to Lee which was interesting. She looked at Lee's expression from the corner of his eye. Why did they both look so disappointed? 

Ino grabbed the blanket that was behind her and covered herself and Gaara. She watched Lee from the corner of her eye. This was interesting. Why was he so uncomfortable?

Lee was trying so hard not to be upset but it was hard. Gaara had been at his side for 5 nights and now that he wasn't, Lee felt cold. It was a coldness that didn't go away with Sakura by his side, it seemed to make him feel colder. Watching Gaara so effortlessly get under the blanket with Ino was so innocent so why did it set him on edge? He wanted Gaara sitting next to him, instead there was a space. 

Lee knew he would hear from Sakura about Ino showing up but she was surprisingly calm right now. Probably because Ino and Gaara were too busy wrapped in themselves they didn't pay her any mind. 

Throughout the movie, Lee paid more attention to Gaara and Ino than the movie. And if Sakura's small advances weren't paid mind to, he didn't catch on. 

***

Lee sat on the couch for a while. The movie was over, Sakura had to leave because it was getting late and he watched Ino and Gaara go upstairs into Gaara's room and come back downstairs in different clothes. He didn't hear either one of them leave the room. It made him... sad. 

"Goodbye Gaara. Be careful. You too, Ino." Lee called out and Ino gave him a thumbs up and Gaara waved and they left. Lee stared at the door for a while until he heard a cough. He turned his head and Sasuke and Naruto were staring at him.

"You okay there buddy?" Naruto asked and Lee rubbed his face.

"Yeah. I am fine. I am just tired, is all." Naruto wanted to believe him and Sasuke just groaned.

"Why don't you just get over the fact that you clearly have a hard on for Gaara and move on with your life." Naruto stared at Sasuke amazed with the sheer crassness of his statement. Sasuke was never like that. 

"I do not." Lee said with a blush lining his cheek and an indignant expression. "Why are you saying this?"

"Lee it's just annoying, ok?" Sasuke looked like he finally snapped. He even stood up off the couch. "Everyone thinks you're going to get over Sakura and date someone who actually likes you, and here you are, dating Sakura and fucking pining over Gaara and it isn't fair to anyone involved." Naruto for once was speechless and stayed seated.

"You take that back!" Lee yelled and rose from the couch himself. He wasn't entirely sure what statement he wanted Sasuke to recant but he couldn't sit around and do nothing.

"No! I'm sick of this! Naruto and I are your best friends and we've been there for you for years. So please tell me why you barely have time to speak with us now that you're with Sakura. Tell me why you spent all of your time tonight glaring at Ino and making goo-goo eyes at fucking Gaara. Please tell me." Lee's body emanated heat. He was embarrassed and angry. Sasuke had never spoken to him in such a manner. 

"If you are going to speak to me so rudely, please leave." Lee said with as much calmness as he could muster. Sasuke scoffed.

"Is the truth hurting you too much? Whatever, Lee. All I'm saying is don't come crying to me when Gaara finally finds someone who cares about him." Sasuke snatched his jacket and instantly he was pressed against a wall by a seething Lee.

"I do care about him!" Sasuke sneered.

"Then why don't you act like it." Sasuke shoved Lee off and stormed out of the house. Lee was breathing heavily and when he calmed himself down enough he saw Naruto still sitting on the couch. Naruto was frowning at him.

"What is it, Naruto?" Lee asked in a defeated tone.

"You're just stupid. I mean, so is Sasuke, he's a dick but you're dumb." Naruto said simply and put on his jacket. "Lee, you gotta know I love ya man, but you're being dumb. Real dumb. This is coming from me. I'll see you later, Sasuke is my ride home." With that Naruto left and Lee sat on the couch wondering when his life got so complicated.

***

Gaara got home at about 2 in the morning and he heard the TV on in the living room. Ino had dropped him off and went her own way, promising to see him later that day.

Gaara walked into the living room and Lee was on the couch, his cheeks were bright pink and he was nursing a cup of sake. 

"Lee?" Gaara said quietly and Lee clumsily looked up at him. Gaara noted in the back of his mind that Lee was drunk. Lee put his cup down and stood up on shaky legs and walked over to Gaara, stumbling most of the way. "Lee are you ok?"

"Yessireee." Lee slurred and pulled Gaara in for a hug. Gaara noticed how Lee was practically purring on his shoulder.

"You should get to bed..." Gaara insisted and Lee nodded against his shoulder. "Come on." Gaara gently pushed Lee away and shut the TV off and grabbed the sake to dump down the sink. He was holding onto Lee's wrist and gently guided him through the kitchen. He dumped the drink and rinsed the cup well enough that no one could tell what was in it, then led him up the stairs. Lee tripped a few times and giggled but said nothing else.

Gaara got him to the bedroom and closed the door softly. He wasn't sure if Guy and Kakashi were home tonight but if they were, the last thing they should see is Lee drunk. Gaara thanked god that Lee was already in pajamas and brought him to the bed to tuck him in.

"Goodnight, Lee." Gaara said quietly and Lee grabbed his wrist and tugged it.

"Com'mon. I dun like sleepin' alone anymore." Lee gave Gaara a sloppy grin and Gaara frowned at him. "Jus a lil while? Missed you..." Gaara sighed and looked down at the uniform he wore. "Put my jammies on." 

Lee's eyes were hazed over and Gaara wasn't sure why. He nodded slowly and walked to the pajama drawer he was accustomed to opening and pulled out a large t-shirt that had Lee's name on it. He took off his chef jacket, pulled the shirt over his head and yanked off his pants, deciding that boxers were fine for now. He climbed into bed next to Lee and Lee pulled him in instantly. 

"Sooo good in my clothes." Lee purred again, his hands soothingly rubbing Gaara's back. The feeling was new, it felt intimate. "So cute." Lee leaned in to Gaara's neck and grazed his teeth over the skin on the base of his neck. Gaara shivered under him and Lee licked from his shoulder up to his earlobe in a messy fashion and gave tiny kisses along his neckline. 

"W-what are you doing?" Gaara's body felt strange. He wasn't sure what or how he felt. He didn't even know if he liked the feeling or not. It made him feel powerless. Lee would bite or lick him a certain way and his body would twitch involuntarily. Gaara had no control over himself. Lee kissed up Gaara's jaw and kissed softly on the corner of his mouth and Gaara's body burned with a desire he didn't know was there. Lee gave another chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth and Gaara took a sharp inhale of breath and tilted his head slightly. Lee went to kiss the corner of his mouth again, but since Gaara moved, Lee wound up kissing him on the lips.

Gaara didn't realize Lee was holding himself back. He was unaware that Lee even had the strength to do so in his inebriated state. Gaara was very surprised that like a floodgate, the second Lee touched his lips, all these emotions began pouring out of them both. Lee's fingers tangled themselves in Gaara's hair and he pulled Gaara in, aggressively attacking his lips until his lips felt raw from the friction. Lee's kisses weren't graceful, they weren't clean, yet Gaara loved them anyway.

"Lee." Gaara breathed, pulling away from Lee a fraction, only to have Lee pull him back in with a whine. "Lee stop." Gaara pulled away again and Lee paused long enough to look at Gaara. His lips rubbed red, cheeks pink, eyes blown wide, hair a complete mess. Beautiful. Lee gave him one last kiss, a soft kiss. He didn't close his eyes completely. They were half lidded and Gaara and Lee stared at each other as Lee gave him the final kiss.

"Dunwanna stop." Lee admitted softly and hugged Gaara tight. "So perfect." Lee stroked Gaara's hair. "Yer my special person." Lee kissed the top of Gaara's head. "Protect you fer'rver..." Lee's voice trailed off and suddenly he was snoring. 

Gaara waited a moment before untangling himself from Lee's body. Gaara pulled the blanket over Lee, left the room and climbed into his own bed. Gaara stared at the ceiling for a while. He wasn't sure what just happened and he felt a burning in his stomach. A mixture of guilt and want. Lee probably wouldn't even remember what happened tonight and Gaara wouldn't remind him. He felt as if it would be too selfish. 

Was Lee selfish? Gaara cuddled deeper into his own bed as he contemplated. Probably. Who wasn't selfish sometimes? All Gaara knew was he loved Lee. He loved Lee so much it hurt to think about. He wasn't entirely sure that anything would come from tonight. Especially if Lee didn't even remember it happened.

***

Lee noticed that Gaara was acting oddly the next few days. With a resigned sigh, he supposed it was because Gaara was preparing to tell him he was dating Ino. Those two seemed to always be together. 

The problem with Lee is that he couldn't take it anymore. Sasuke was ignoring him, Naruto was awkward around both of them and didn't want to take sides. Sakura was being more demanding since movie night and he finally got the lecture for Ino coming over that he knew was inevitable. He tried to reason that it was Gaara's house too and Gaara could bring whomever he wanted over but that didn't bode well either. Then it turned into him always talking about Gaara which didn't make sense because she was the one that brought him up to begin with. Women were exhausting.

"Hey Gaara." Lee's voice surprised even himself. Gaara pulled the earbud from his ear and looked up at Lee with those wide, curious eyes. Lee dreamt about those eyes. Mostly those eyes blown wide with lust. Just the thought of that dream made Lee shiver. 

"Yes, Lee?" Gaara was sitting on his bed, cross-legged with a book in his lap doing homework and listening to music. Lee gave Gaara his tablet so Gaara could go online which was oddly something Gaara never had a lot of access to before. Lee made a mental note that he should give Gaara a music player since Gaara was just using YouTube to listen to music. There were better apps than that but Gaara was a slow learner with technology. 

"Today is my fight with Sasuke at the dojo. We planned to do this a few weeks ago to get some interest back in the dojo. I was wondering if you would like to go... You could bring Ino if you would like." Lee said with a soft smile. A smile that seemed off.

"Yeah I'll be there. Kakashi already invited me." Lee blushed slightly. Obviously he was invited already. 

"Oh. Right. Well cool. I'll see you then..." Lee gave an awkward nod and turned to leave the room.

"Lee." Lee stopped himself at an embarrassingly fast pace and turned to look at Gaara again. "I have to talk to you." Lee wanted to squirm where he stood. Is this where Gaara told him about dating Ino? Lee wanted to run away. There was nothing preparing him for that.

"Okay." He choked out and Gaara motioned to the end of the bed and Lee sat down and looked at Gaara. Gaara bit the inside of his lip and shifted on the bed.

"I want to start by saying I didn't even know this was a thing but I guess it is and I don't know who else to talk to and you're my best friend so..." Lee watched Gaara with interest. "I was having difficulty my entire life with emotions and feelings since... I wasn't... allowed to have them. No one explained them to me. I never had a computer or a phone to look things up. And there's also the whole I didn't know they existed until a few days ago... I did research and I thought I could label myself but it's hard. I thought I was asexual when I read what it meant because it was everything I felt. Something happened and I realize that isn't it and I just wanted to tell someone since... it's the first time I've had an inkling of what I felt and it was validated." Gaara paused for a while. It was strange, he wasn't used to labels they were new, but he knew there was a stigma around them and he didn't want Lee to look at him differently.

"What do you think your label is, Gaara?" Lee coaxed gently and Gaara pursed his lips.

"I read a lot about... demisexual and it makes sense..." Since there were so many labels, Lee had to run through his memory to remember which one demisexual was. 

"That's the one where... you're only sexually attracted to someone you love?" Lee asked unsurely and Gaara nodded. Lee smiled. "That is lovely, Gaara." A thought dawned on Lee that had his stomach lurch. "How... did you learn that? Were you... intimate with someone... you love?" Lee asked awkwardly and blushed. "Y-you don't have to answer that. I understand it's personal." Gaara looked down at his lap. If he said yes, maybe Lee would understand that he loved him. It was going to be difficult to admit, but he wanted Lee to see him so bad.

"Yes." Gaara admitted to the quiet room. Lee sat still, his body was thrumming and his heart broke. The thought of someone touching Gaara made him sick. Lee was so angry, so incredibly jealous he wanted to vomit. He tried to look up at Gaara but it was hard. He just kept thinking of someone's hands all over his body. Of Ino's hands on his body. He needed air, he was lightheaded. 

"Uh, that is... great. I am happy for you. I-I... Excuse me." Lee knew it wasn't very smooth but he stumbled off of the bed and fleed the room quickly. His eyes burned when he was in the safety of his own room. He closed the door and leaned his body on the door and slid down to the ground and hugged his knees. He knew he was being selfish. He had Sakura and Gaara had no one. He should be happy for his friend! Lee wanted so badly to be happy for Gaara but it was so incredibly hard! He wouldn't be able to look at Ino now without thinking of the two of them. Gaara was his! His special person!

Lee's throat felt tight and he hiccupped. Suddenly tears were pouring from his eyes and he couldn't stop himself from crying. It hurt so badly. All he could think about was how much he loved Gaara. How perfect he was in every way. Lee pulled out his phone and turned it on and went to his gallery where he had his pictures of him and Gaara. It was silly to be so upset over this, especially to treat this like a break up. 

Even so, Lee looked at the pictures of them apple picking, he looked at the pictures of Gaara making pastries in the kitchen. He had pictures of Gaara sleeping on the couch and pictures with Gaara and Kakashi cooking at the stove. There were some of Gaara lounging on their deck by the fire pit roasting marshmallows, Gaara climbing trees, selfies of Lee and Gaara in random places. Lee had a picture of them at the grocery store, Lee was grinning next to the tank of fish and Gaara was staring blankly at the camera. There were car selfies with Gaara sitting cross-legged on the passenger seat drinking a milkshake. Gaara petting random stray animals and Lee looking amazed that these animals letting Gaara pet them (a deer, a squirrel, a groundhog, an opossum.)

When had they drifted so far apart? When did Lee let Sakura take control over his time? Why had he let Sakura take over his time? She wasn't worth it. She didn't make Lee feel like how Gaara did. It was wrong to even continue the relationship! Lee rubbed his face trying to wipe away the tears but more just kept coming out. Lee's phone vibrated in his hand and he saw Sakura's picture flash on the screen. It was a picture he took of her at the autumn festival that he honestly wanted to take Gaara to. The entire time he just kept thinking it would've been better if he brought Gaara.

Lee stared at the picture with a disdain he didn't know he felt until the call stopped and the picture of Gaara in the apple tree popped up on the screen. Lee's lips pressed firmly together and he stared at the beautiful eyes and laid on the floor just regretting the choices he's made.

***

Gaara stared at Lee flee the room and his heart clenched. He really hoped Lee didn't remember that they were... somewhat intimate the other night and that's why he left and not because he did remember but he didn't feel the same way for Gaara. 

Gaara sighed deeply and felt his phone vibrate. He took it out of his pocket and admired the screen. It was an old Samsung phone Kakashi had from when he upgraded his phone. This one was two years old, which apparently to some teenagers was a big deal. Gaara loved it. Kakashi gave it to him last week and added him to their phone plan. He apologized for the shitty-ness and offered to let Gaara get a better phone but Gaara insisted he kept that one. 

When he switched phones he transferred all of his pictures over so now he had a lot of pictures of pastries and Lee. He had so many pictures of Lee. Gaara's phone's background was actually a picture of Lee. The first picture he took of him in the tree. His old phone's camera quality wasn't anything special but even so, it was his favorite picture. The only one to see his phone background was Ino. She asked if she could look something up on his phone and he didn't mind. He told her the drawn pattern on the unlock screen was just a U and when she unlocked the phone she looked up at him with an expression between humor and "really?" Gaara's ears turned pink, he went back to cutting the cookies and she laughed at him. 

"I didn't think you had a crush THAT big." She teased and leaned on the table next to him and Gaara glared at her and she hit him with her hip. "It's cute. Nice picture. Almost makes him look attractive."

"He is attractive." Gaara insisted quietly and Ino grinned at him.

"You're so sweet when you're in ~love~!" She said in a sing-song voice. Gaara wasn't amused.

Gaara stared at his background until his timer ran out and the screen shut off. He didn't know what to do. Did he tell Ino? What would she think? Would she be angry that Lee would cheat on Sakura as he had? Would she laugh with glee that Sakura's boyfriend didn't even seem to like her enough? Gaara wasn't sure. He didn't want to air out their business but he wished he could talk to someone.

Suddenly Gaara's phone vibrated and a picture of Ino covered the screen. It was a picture of her at work, a selfie. She was sticking out her tongue and winking, holding the phone up high enough to see Gaara working in the background, glaring at her taking the picture. When did she put that as her contact photo?

"Hello?" Gaara answered much quieter than usual.

"...Lee?" Gaara made a grunt of agreement. "I'll be there in 10 minutes. Be outside!" She hung up and he sighed. She wouldn't take no for an answer even if she gave him time to say no.

Gaara got dressed. He put on a pair of Lee's sweatpants he had from the other night with their school's logo on them. Freytown Foxes. Their colors were navy blue with orange lettering and their mascot was a fox which Naruto actually dressed as the mascot for pep-rallies and games. (He said it was super fun but really hot. Plus he got to dance with cheerleaders. Sasuke rolled his eyes.) Gaara grabbed one of his only sweaters, his dark red one. He looked at himself in the mirror and noticed absolutely nothing about his outfit matched. He grabbed his green hat and tan boots and walked downstairs.

"Where ya goin?" Kakashi asked and Gaara looked back at him. Kakashi could tell something was wrong. "Going out with Ino?" Gaara nodded slowly and Kakashi nodded at him. "Be safe. Text me if you won't be home." Gaara nodded and left the house. Kakashi looked up and saw Lee at the top of the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you can. I need some positivity in my life right now.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always fucking dying idk why. I have the norovirus and I want to throw myself off a cliff.
> 
> Anyway, I never put up any of my drawings for this story. I'll have to take some pictures. I've drawn Gaara and Lee in their uniforms. I'm going to draw their school logo and other shit because I'm anal and I love pictures to help me with a story.
> 
> Prompt: Gaara visits the dojo!
> 
> I'M AT 100 PAGES!

Chapter Eighteen:

"So what's going on?" Gaara sighed deeply. Him and Ino had been driving around for 10 minutes in complete silence while she let Gaara mull over whatever he wanted to talk about. Gaara still felt unprepared. 

"A lot. I'm... unsure how to talk about it." Gaara leaned his cheek against the seatbelt and watched the trees as they drove passed. 

"And it has to do with Lee?" Gaara made a noise of agreement. "Okay, did something happen between you two? I didn't want to say anything but he's been totally giving you baby doll eyes. He seems absolutely smitten." Gaara frowned and bit his lip. "Oh so this is going to be good? Come on, you can tell me. I don't have a big mouth... Unless it's to insult Sakura." 

"It's just... It isn't only my business, it's also Lee's and I'm not sure if I should say anything." Gaara admitted and Ino didn't say anything but pulled the car into the mall parking lot. She turned to Gaara and sighed.

"Gaara, if it's bothering you, you should talk to someone. Not telling someone something is bothering you because you're unsure of the other party's response isn't the way to go about things. You can talk about it if you need to. If you don't, that's okay too. If you want to talk about it, I'm here. You know I love gossip." She grinned at him and he started to fidget.

"I do... I do want to tell someone." Gaara decided softly. "Okay... It started the other day. Lee invited me to watch a movie with him and he was very... sweet. He made poporn, hot chocolate, he even put a towel and pajamas in the dryer for me for when I got out of the shower..." Ino grinned at him.

"I told you he liked you..." She said with a smug smile. Gaara ignored her.

"After, we started watching the movie and... we kind of... cuddled? He was holding me and I was laying on him and it was just nice. And then we did that all week until Friday." Ino held back most of her inappropriate comments for the time being.

"That explains the looks you two had when we were watching a movie. You wanted to curl up by him and he wanted to curl up next to you." Gaara nodded. "Oh honey, you two are so in love. You're going to get married and have babies." She teased and Gaara flushed. "Did something else happen?"

"Yeah... You dropped me off and I got home that night and Lee was drunk so I took him to his room and he insisted I cuddle with him because he wanted me next to him. So I laid down with him and he started... like massaging me? He was rubbing my back and my arms and then he started kissing my neck and biting my shoulder..." Ino's cheeks were pink but the grin on her face told a different story. "Then... we kissed. He kept saying I was his special person and how cute I was and how he'd protect me, I told him to stop and he kissed me and then he fell asleep."

"Holy plot twist, batman. I mean I knew he liked you but I didn't expect him to do that. Damn, get some." Gaara glared at her and she laughed. "In all seriousness, he shouldn't be doing that with a girlfriend... He should dump Sakura right now so you two can get married." 

"Problem is, he doesn't remember. At least I don't think he remembers. He isn't acting like he does. I just don't know how to deal with it. And I feel really terrible, I don't like Sakura but I still took advantage of her boyfriend." Ino raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean you took advantage? He kissed you."

"Yeah but he was drunk and didn't know what he was doing." 

"Yes he did. Gaara, you know Lee. You know he wouldn't do anything he didn't want to do. Just because he was drunk doesn't mean it isn't what he wanted. He wants you, he's just too chicken shit to tell you. I don't buy the 'I was drunk' as an excuse to cheat. If you want to cheat, you'll cheat. But good on you for stopping yourself. Since he was drunk he legally couldn't consent even if he totally wants you." Gaara thought about it for a moment and Ino wasn't happy with the atmosphere in the car. Gaara was feeling bad and she didn't want him to. "Anyway, I don't know what the hell kind of outfit you're pulling but it doesn't work. Come on, let's buy you something. We are going to his spar match, right?" Gaara nodded. "Good, you need to look cute as hell." Ino jumped out of the car and Gaara reluctantly followed behind her.

***

Lee went outside after Gaara left to do warm ups for his match later on. Kakashi eventually found his way outside to see Lee for what seemed like the first time in a month.

"What's bothering you, Lee?" Kakashi asked and Lee paused his warm up and collapsed onto the grass, looking up at the sky.

"So many things." He admitted and Kakashi sat by Lee's side. 

"Care to elaborate?" Kakashi asked and Lee doesn't know why he said the truth, he supposed he needed to tell someone. Everything hurt.

"I think Gaara is dating Ino." Lee said softly and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think that?" 

"They are always together. At school they walk arm in arm. Ino works at the café more with him. They are always together when they are not working or at school. I think they are dating." Kakashi noticed the slight hysteria in Lee's voice.

"What does that mean for you?" Kakashi asked and Lee sat up and looked at Kakashi. Kakashi could tell Lee was crying before. His face was still swollen. His eyes were glassy and Kakashi knew it was only a matter of time before he started crying again. Lee was very emotional. Usually Guy dealt with this but he was at the dojo.

"That my best friend is spending all of his time with a girl who does not deserve him. He is so amazing and I know I do not know her well enough and it is out of place for me to say, but Gaara deserves the world. Everything in the world. And she is not good enough for him. He is so great and someone should show him how amazing he is and I do not think she can do that and I am upset because if anyone needs to know how loved they are it is Gaara. I just want him to be happy and what if she does not do that? What if she cannot make him happy? I do not want to see that. I need him to be happy. But then I think about it and I do not want him to be happy without me. I see them all of the time and they look like they are having a good time and I miss spending time with him. I am jealous. I miss Gaara. It is my own fault that we are how we are and I am angry at myself for everything and I just do not know what to do." Lee was full on sobbing by the end and Kakashi looked at him with a pained expression.

"Lee..." He said surprisingly gently. "Gaara isn't dating Ino. Nor will he be dating Ino." Lee looked up and sniffled and rubbed his face on his sleeve.

"W-what do you mean?" Kakashi sighed. He couldn't say much, he couldn't tell Lee that Gaara liked, maybe even loved him. That wasn't his business to discuss. Those two boys needed to sit down and sort out their priorities. Seriously.

"I've talked to Gaara. I know for a fact that he isn't interested in Ino that way. If he loves her, it's as a friend. Maybe even like a sister. But he isn't interested in her romantically. You need to have a talk with him if this is everything you're feeling. I'm sure he can clarify more than I can. But Lee I do have a question." Lee nodded and sniffled again. "Do you have romantic feelings for Gaara?" Lee's face burned in an instant. His ears, cheeks, forehead, nose, neck, all red. Lee's heart thrummed in his chest and he couldn't control the random trembles of his hands.

"You don't have to answer. It's just a question you should think about. There's a reason that you feel jealous of Ino. There's a reason you want Gaara to have the world. You just need to admit it." Lee nodded.

"I do. He is my special person." Lee rubbed his eyes again. They were burning. His heart hurt from beating too hard.

"Then Lee, why are you with Sakura?" Kakashi asked and Lee grew frustrated. His eyebrows pushed together and his lips pressed into a line.

"I..." The look of concentration was harder. "I liked Sakura for a while. I realize I do not have the strong feelings for her anymore. Still, I liked her so much before I thought maybe this could work out. And I do not think I could hurt her. She may not be Gaara, but I do love her. She is not a bad person. She is lovely. It is just... She is not him."

"I know breaking up with someone is tough, Lee. But I think you need to if this is how you're feeling. Don't let me dictate what you do. Think about things. I'll be here for you. Come on now, it's time to get ready to go to the dojo." Kakashi helped Lee up and Lee rubbed his face again.

"Do you think Gaara will come watch me fight?" He asked and Kakashi smiled.

"I don't think there's anything more he'd rather do."

***

 

"Come on Ino, you drive so slow." Gaara complained and Ino glared at him.

"I'm doing 5 over the speed limit. Calm down. We'll make it to your boyfriend's match. We still have 10 minutes until it starts." Gaara sighed and looked out of the window. "On the plus side, you look super cute."

"Don't call me cute. It isn't something guys like to hear." Gaara grumbled and Ino smiled.

"But you are cute. I'm sure Lee will agree with me too!" Gaara rolled his eyes, regretting telling her anything about Lee. 

"I shouldn't have let you drag me around playing dress up. If we're late I will be so mad at you." Ino rolled her eyes.

"Yeah whatever. Just text Kakashi or Guy and tell them you're running late. I don't even think you'd have to do that. I'm sure Lee would wait for you. You're his special person after all." Gaara glared at her again.

"I hate you." Ino blew him a kiss.

***

Lee was standing by the back wall of the dojo looking around awkwardly. Luckily, their fight had drawn a decent sized crowd. Hopefully, they would get more students this way. He honestly had Sasuke to thank for that. Sasuke was pretty popular no matter where he was. He's the reason the turnout was so good. 

Looking at the clock, Lee saw that it was a few minutes passed the start time. Sasuke was stretching on the left side of the room by the bleachers. Naruto was sitting next to where he was and babbling it seemed. Sakura walked into the room and smiled happily at him and waved. She walked over and embraced him in a hug.

"Oh good luck, Lee! I know you can do it." Lee smiled softly at her and hugged her again. She was such a good person. He loved being around her. The thought of him breaking up with her soon made him sad. She wouldn't want to be around him anymore. He just had to get time with her while he could. 

Ten minutes passed the start time and the crowd was getting antsy. There were only so many stretches Lee and Sasuke could go through. Sasuke saw Lee look at the door a bunch and sighed. He knew he was stalling for Gaara.

"He'll be here." Sasuke said quietly when he was close enough to Lee. Lee looked up surprised and blushed slightly.

"I know... Thanks Sasuke. I really must apologize for the other day. I feel terrible." Sasuke stopped him.

"No. Not now. After I kick your ass." Sasuke smirked and Lee smiled warmly at him.

They both realized that Guy was talking to the audience about classes and times and such. Lee inwardly grinned at the effort Guy put into stalling and the doors opened and Lee's eyes shot over. He saw Ino walk in, almost gliding. She was very pretty, he had to give her that. But she was nothing compared to Gaara.

Lee's eyes widened a fraction looking at Gaara. Black jeans, a green button up rolled to his elbows, his green beanie, a nice pair of tan boots. His hair even looked different. It looked shorter. He tugged off the hat and Lee noticed it was straight. It wasn't sticking up everywhere. Lee didn't know if that should upset him or not.

"Think you can pay attention to the fight?" Sasuke asked with a smirk and Lee quickly jerked his gaze away from Gaara and narrowed his eyes at Sasuke with a smirk.

"Of course. I'm going to beat you too."

***

"He was totally checking you out." Ino whispered to Gaara with a giggle.

"Maybe he was looking at my stupid hair." Gaara muttered and Ino smiled at him.

"You look adorable."

"Can you stop with that?" Gaara looked around the bleachers for a place to sit. He couldn't really find one they were so packed.

"Gaara! Come here!" Gaara saw his sister and Shikamaru at the top in the corner. Ino and Gaara awkwardly moved their way through the sea of people.

"Hey guys! I didn't know you'd be here." Ino said with a smile. Shikamaru sighed and crossed his arms.

"He didn't want to come. I did. I never saw Lee fight before. I wanted to watch." Temari grinned. 

Gaara turned his attention to the mats where Lee and Sasuke stood. They bowed at each other and got into a fighting stance. Gaara wouldn't admit how much he loved Lee's one arm behind the back other hand out in front of him, stance. To quote Ino, it was cute.

Sasuke and Lee knew how to fight. It was amazing to watch them. Gaara was impressed with Lee's speed. Sasuke was fast, yeah, but sometimes it seemed hard to even see Lee he was moving so quickly. Gaara was impressed with the way they fought. It wasn't angry, it was almost like dancing. Especially since Lee really liked flipping out of the way when Sasuke attempted to land a hit. Lee knew how to avoid everything and it was really awesome to see. Gaara bit his lip and heard Ino giggle next to him. He elbowed her roughly and she giggled louder. Gaara couldn't remember a time where he would label something this way but... watching Lee fight was sexy. Lee fighting was so incredibly sexy that Gaara felt uncomfortable being there. He never knew Lee could move that way and it was exciting. Why hadn't he watched him before?

In the end, Lee won the fight. Not for lack of trying on Sasuke's part. He truly put up an amazing fight but Lee was just faster. 

"Turned on?" Ino teased and Gaara shoved her lightly and she laughed with delight. "I knew it." Gaara struggled to not spit out an "I hate you". What are friends for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for friendship. If there was one thing I didn't expect to come of this story it would be Ino and Gaara being my BroTP. 
> 
> Let me know who else you want to make it into the story. I'm thinking of having a guy make Lee jealous with Gaara but I can't think of which character it could be. Also I'm dying to put Kiba, Hinata, Shino and Neji in the story but idfk how. 
> 
> I think maybe next chapter will have more Sasuke/Naruto interactions plus Itachi because we haven't seen him in a while. 
> 
> Pretty sure Sasuke is going to join the Just Desserts crew.
> 
> oh! and we still have thanksgiving! Yay!


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter prompts:
> 
> -Lee or Gai or Kakashi make Gaara laugh  
> -Gaara being with Kakashi and Gai and being overwhelmed by how nice they are.  
> -Update on Sasuke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written two days ago (essentially right after the last chapter was posted) but I didn't post it because a severe decline in comments. Everyone collectively thank my only commenter last chapter, Halpmehpls7580. If it wasn't for her comment this chapter would not be up still. (And I love you too <3)
> 
> My Doodles are in this chapter! Sorry they suck lol

Gaara in Lee's sweater!

Lee running the track (that bootie tho)

Can't forget Sakura in Lee's sweater all the time

School logo (Like the Kurama easter egg?)

My first drawing of them for this story (back when I forgot the colors of the uniform...)  


Hope you enjoyed. Sorry my drawing isn't great lol but maybe now you can see what I'm writing better!

Chapter Nineteen:

"Gaara." Gaara stirred at the familiar voice but didn't wake up completely. "Gaara, wake up." Gaara opened his eyes and Kakashi stood by the side of his bed. "You didn't set your alarm. You're a bit behind schedule." Gaara looked at the clock at it was nearly 30 minutes after he usually woke up.

"Thanks Kakashi." Gaara rubbed his eyes and Kakashi left the room. Gaara got dressed and wondered why Lee didn't wake him up. He walked to Lee's room and saw the light was off and the bed was made. Interesting.

Gaara brushed his teeth and went downstairs to see Kakashi and Guy drinking coffee at the table. Kakashi held up a to-go mug and Gaara took it gratefully. 

"Do you need a ride?" Guy asked and Gaara shook his head.

"Where's Lee?" Guy laughed happily, which was something much too loud for this early in the morning.

"Lee has started his intensive morning training. You'll be lucky to see him in the mornings." Gaara frowned and nodded. "Don't worry! He'll be done soon. Now come on! Let's get you to school." Guy stood up and Gaara looked at Kakashi confused and Kakashi shrugged.

"I guess we're bringing you to school." Kakashi said and stood up, following Guy outside.

"Let's go, rival!" Guy called happily and Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"I'm already behind you, shut up." The interaction made Gaara chuckle softly. They seemed to be like him and Lee. Gaara wondered if that would be them some day. Taking care of unwanted children. Gaara watched the backs of Guy and Kakashi and just the prospect of them taking him into their home was overwhelming. Gaara lived with them for a month now and they treated him well. Much better than Rasa ever did. Were most parents like this? Is this how Rasa was for Temari and Kankuro? Gaara frowned at the thought. Maybe Guy and Kakashi would hate him too if he killed their wife. Giving birth to Gaara was the worst thing his mom could've done in Rasa's eyes.

Gaara was amazed that with all the bad he's done in his life, he found two amazing dads like Guy and Kakashi.

"You coming, Gaara?" Kakashi asked from the passenger seat. Gaara blinked himself back into reality.

"Yeah. Sorry, just thinking..."

***

Sasuke slammed his locker door harshly and put his forehead on the cold metal. His brother was infuriating and he just wanted to be left alone. School was like a haven for him now. This was around the time their parents were murdered so he got really overprotective and annoying. Sasuke had his own car but Itachi insisted on driving him to school and picking him up. It was like this all November long. In December, Itachi would be too busy at work to do this and Sasuke knew the month was almost over but for now, it was frustrating.

"Hey Sasuke, whacha up to?" Naruto asked, leaning on the locker next to his.

"Nothing." Sasuke muttered with a scowl. Naruto frowned.

"Itachi being that crazy again, huh?" Sasuke groaned.

"You have no idea." It didn't help that Itachi found out Sasuke's sexual preference last month and kept giving him lectures on safe sex. Just because Sasuke knew he was gay, didn't mean he had a line of suitors at his doorstep. Itachi bought him a box of condoms and a book all about gay sex. Seriously? Big brothers are the worst.

"Sorry man. You able to do something after school or no?" Naruto asked and Sasuke's cheeks warmed and he pouted.

"I'm not sure, I'll have to ask. Like a 5 year old. I'm 17 years old, almost 18 and this is how I'm treated. Ridiculous." Sasuke rambled and his thoughts wandered. He realized it was a good thing Itachi didn't know about Sasuke's (painfully obvious) crush on Naruto. He didn't think he would ever hear the end of it. The only reason Itachi hadn't talked to any of his friends about it, was because Sasuke said he hadn't told them yet.

Which brings him to Lee. Lee has the biggest, gayest crush on Gaara and Gaara clearly has the biggest, gayest crush on Lee, yet Lee is dating Sakura. Hell, if Sasuke knew if Naruto had a crush on him, he would-

"Hey guys!" Sasuke turned to see Sakura bundled in Lee's Track & Field sweater. With how often it gets passed from Sakura to Gaara, it was a wonder if Lee bought it for himself or not. "How are you doing today?"

"Fine I guess. Sasuke is still being babied by Itachi though." Naruto filled her in and Sasuke glared at Naruto and Sakura looked at Sasuke pityingly. 

"Oh I'm sorry. I know your parents died this month. How are you handling it?" Sasuke shrugged. He was 6 when they died, it wasn't like he remembered them much. He lived most of his life without them than with them. "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here." Sasuke nodded at the obligatory comment and opened his locker again to get his phone.

"I don't want to be here today." Sasuke sighed and Naruto grinned.

"Let's skip." He offered and the idea sounded nice. Sakura crossed her arms.

"You're not seriously that dumb to skip." She stated flatly. Sasuke frowned at that, he was one of the top students, it wasn't like if he skipped his grades would plummet. They would understand. "If Itachi finds out you skipped during November, he will freak out." Ah, that is right.

"I'll just say I don't feel well. I'm old enough to sign myself out." Sasuke pulled out his dark blue Soccer Captain sweater. He didn't have practice after school so it didn't matter. "You coming, Naruto?" Naruto grinned and waved at an annoyed looking Sakura.

"Fine. Leave. Be safe you two!" Sasuke raised his arm up as a response, but didn't turn to face her.

"Hey Sakura!" Lee greeted and she turned to him and saw his face was red and he was out of breath.

"You started training in the morning again?" He nodded. "Okay, just make sure you don't tire yourself out too bad. You still have to learn things in school for a few more months before you graduate." Sakura smiled and Lee laughed lightly.

"Yeah I know. It is just so nice to be able to work out again knowing I can train at the dojo! I am very happy." Sakura kissed Lee's cheek and he blushed.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now get to class before you're late. And Sasuke and Naruto are skipping today." Lee frowned at that.

"Itachi?" Sakura nodded and Lee gave an understanding look. "Well, I will see you later, blossom." He smiled at her and jogged down the hallway. Normally he'd walk her to class but their homerooms were on the opposite sides of the school and he was already written up for being late too many times. 

While he was running he saw Gaara dropping Ino off at her first class. He was wearing his own red sweater, a nice pair of jeans, the tan boots he usually wore and was holding a to-go mug that Lee knew had coffee in it. Why did looking at Gaara make Lee so unbelievably happy?

"Gaara!" Lee chirped and Gaara looked away from Ino to stare at Lee. He smiled. "It feels so weird to not see you in the morning. I am sorry I missed you."

"It's okay. You're training now, right? You seem like you're having fun." Lee nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yes, it is very fun! I was wondering if you would like to come to the dojo with me at some point." Gaara paused for a second. Lee woke up at 4am to get to the dojo to work out for 2 hours before getting ready for school at the dojo. None of that sounded like a fun idea.

"Yeah, of course." Gaara agreed and Lee grinned at him.

"That is great. I am very happy. Oh, how rude of me, good morning Ino! I will see you two later. Goodbye!" And Lee was off before either could say anything to him. Ino turned to Gaara with a smirk and Gaara groaned.

"Don't even start. It is way too early and this is only my second cup of coffee." Ino put her hands up defensively but kept the smirk on her face.

"I didn't say anything." Gaara glowered at her.

"I'm going to class now." Ino waved as Gaara walked down the hallway.

***

Gaara and Ino were working together again. Gaara was prepping the turkey for thanksgiving and Ino was filling the pie crusts they froze earlier. There was so much to get done and Gaara was stressing out. They had over 100 orders for pies and he absolutely hated making pie crust. Ino didn't mind but she was weird and seemed to like things that were rolled out. Temari kept hopping in back to help roll out pie crusts and apologizing to Gaara continuously.

"I didn't realize how many orders there was. Once I realized I stopped the front of house from taking any more. I'm so sorry." Gaara didn't respond. Ino teased him for his bad mood and finally he was done with the brine so he added the turkey and put it in the fridge.

"Seriously Gaara, you need to calm down. Being in a bad mood won't help us get done faster." Ino reasoned and Gaara glared at her and pulled out pie filling recipes and started doing counts. He walked to the fridge with a marker and in big letters wrote:

Apple: 43 (-12)  
Cherry: 12 (-12)  
Strawberry Rhubarb: 24 (-12)  
Blueberry: 18 (-12)  
Pumpkin: 28 (-12)  
Total: 125 (-60) = 65

"You've got to be shitting me right now." Gaara angrily ran his fingers through his hair and hit his head on the door. "The pies have to be done by tomorrow and we have sixty five more fucking pies to do. Ino, how many pie crusts do we have in the freezer?"

"... six." Ino's small voice said and Gaara groaned.

"If it makes you feel any better, I called in help." Temari said with a nervous smile.

"Help? I hope you called in 7 fucking people just to sit here and roll pie shells. It took Ino 3 hours to roll out 21 pie shells yesterday. I am never doing pie orders ever again. I hate making pies." Ino sighed and started to roll faster.

"I understand Gaara. I'm sorry. You know how important you are here. Don't be upset. We'll have a number cut off for pies for Christmas if it makes you feel any better." Gaara scowled.

"The thing no one seems to understand is I somehow have to make these pies, prep for thanksgiving AND keep the pastry case stocked. How do you think I'm doing that? Magic? I'm not just pulling shit from thin air and it's getting really stressful keeping up-"

"Hey Temari, sorry I'm late. Here to help." Gaara shut up instantly and his eyes were set on Lee and wide. He closed his mouth tightly and Ino and Temari snorted and covered their mouths, turning away trying not to laugh. "Are you okay Gaara?" Lee asked, voice full of concern. He was at Gaara's side in an instant. "Do you need anything?"

"I... No... Lee what... are you doing here?" Compared to Gaara's fit 20 seconds prior, his voice was meek now. Temari and Ino thanked the gods that Lee was free to help out. There's only one person that could get Gaara to calm down. Oddly enough Lee could also wind him up.

"Temari said you were stressed about all the pie orders so I came to help you. I do not want you to be stressed out." Lee was tying an apron over his shirt and put a headband on his head with a smile. "So what can I do to help?"

"Um. You can roll pie shells." Lee nodded and walked around the kitchen with ease getting the things he needed together. Disposable pie containers, a French rolling pin, a scoop of flour, several wrapped portions of pie dough. 

"Would you mind if I shared your table?" Lee asked and Gaara shook his head and Lee placed his things down and when Gaara looked at Ino and Temari they had shit-eating grins on their faces. Gaara glared at them and mouthed "shut up" and they started giggling again.

***

Lee was useless at a lot of things in the kitchen. As it turns out, rolling pie shells was not one of them. He rolled pie shells so quickly that him, Ino and Temari were done rolling the 59 pie shells in an hour. Gaara made more filling for cherry, blueberry, and apple pie while they rolled shells. Now Gaara was working on a big batch of pumpkin and strawberry rhubarb. 

It took about 6 hours, but everything was done. The pies they made were baked and ready to be packaged. It was 10pm and everyone was tired of pies. Temari left after the pie shells were rolled to managed the front until Shikamaru showed up. When they were just waiting for pies to go in the oven, Gaara began working on his regular list. He expected Lee to leave too but Lee stayed the entire time to help.

Ino kept sneaking pictures of the two working together while she pretended to text. She'd send them to Gaara later, Gaara would yell at her for being a creep and he would save the pictures anyway because that's just what Gaara did.

"Are you ready to go home?" Lee asked and Gaara went to say Ino was driving him and Ino made the "cut it" motion and he stopped talking.

"Um. Yes." Ino smiled at Gaara from behind Lee and gave Gaara a thumbs up.

"At least tomorrow will be better, right?" Gaara sighed. Tomorrow they didn't have school because of thanksgiving. They had off Tuesday-Friday which made no sense why they couldn't have off Monday too. Just Desserts was closed on thanksgiving and the day before thanksgiving which is why everyone had to get their pies tomorrow. However for those two days Gaara had to make a thanksgiving dinner for about 20 people. It was going to be fun. He hated Kankuro with a passion right now.

"In certain aspects. Tomorrow I won't bake anything since we're closed for two days. I wouldn't want to throw out too many things. I still have to prepare for thanksgiving though. Will you be there?" Gaara realized he hadn't even asked Lee yet. Lee smiled at him.

"I would not miss it for the world."


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts:
> 
> Lee admits to Gaara how grateful he is to have him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my two reviewers. Y'all are singlehandedly keeping the story going. My health right now is shit and my inspiration is getting less and less and I barely have energy to write anymore. No insurance for two weeks though so we'll see how that works out for me.

Chapter Twenty:

Lee ran out to start it so it would be warm by the time Gaara was ready to go. When he announced he was turning on the car and he'd be back, Ino looked at Gaara. When they heard the sound of the door shutting Ino made a very girlishly noise.

"Oh honey he likes you so much." Gaara frowned and Ino followed. "What's wrong?"

"How much longer am I going to go through this? How much longer will he be with her?" Ino sighed and hugged her friend.

"I know. Boys can be dumb. Don't look at me like that. I said can be. Obviously not you. You're my perfect little raccoon." She teased and he scowled.

"I am not a raccoon." He argued and she ignored him. 

"Anyway, you two should totally make out and then you text me about it later." She winked at Gaara blushed and put his hand to his face and rubbed down. "You love me, it's okay."

"I don't know where you got that inclination but you are sadly mistaken." Ino flicked his forehead and went to the bathroom to put on her coat. Gaara followed. "Don't miss me too much on your ride home."

"Wow Gaara, that was such an Ino thing to say. I love it." She smiled and he sighed.

They both walked towards the exit and Gaara shut off all the lights and they left the building. Gaara walked Ino to her car and she hugged him and kissed his cheek before she climbed in. He waited for her to turn on her car, and she waved at him and he waved back. Gaara turned to walk towards Lee's car and saw him looking at him as if lost in thought. Gaara got to the passenger side and sat down, buckled himself in, took off his shoes, and sat cross-legged.

"Are you okay, Lee?" Gaara asked and Lee nodded slowly.

"Yes, thank you for your concern. Would you like to do something tonight?" Gaara looked at the time.

"What?" Lee shrugged. "Thank you, that's helpful." Lee tried not to smile.

"I just... I do not know. I am just happy to be with you. I know it is late, but still." Gaara's heart thudded in his chest and he looked at Lee.

"We could always watch a movie." Lee looked at him and a grin slowly blossomed on his face. Lee wondered if it was because Gaara wanted to cuddle with him or not. The thought gave him butterflies.

"That sounds wonderful. What would you like to watch?" Gaara shrugged. "I will pick it then. What Disney movies do you like?"

"... I've... I've never watched one." Gaara admitted softly and Lee figured freaking out or being amazed would just make Gaara feel bad so he did neither. He just smiled.

"I would love to show you them all. If you would like me to, that is." Gaara nodded. "Okay! We will start with one of my favorites. Beauty and the Beast." 

***

Gaara loved Beauty and the Beast. He loved it so much that Lee mentioned the new live action movie, Lee bought it online and they watched that too. They were up until nearly 3am watching it and after, Gaara pulled out his phone and looked up "Tale as old as Time" and hummed along to it. When Lee laughed tiredly at him, Gaara shoved him with his shoulder. Lee shoved him back playfully and Gaara narrowed his eyes. He was so tired. Why did he stay up so late?

"You are cute." Lee said randomly and Gaara laid down on the pillows.

"Shut up, Lee. Go to sleep." Lee grinned and laid as close to Gaara as possible but didn't touch him. He watched Gaara's face. With his eyes closed, he saw his eyelashes on his upper cheeks. They were lovely. Lee examined every freckle on Gaara's cheeks and nose until he was staring at Gaara's lips. He's dreamt about those lips for longer than he could admit and with his tired mental state, he was on the verge of kissing them. "What are you doing?" Gaara grumbled and looked at Lee through his lashes. Lee just smiled at him.

"I am not doing anything." Lee whispered and Gaara glared.

"Exactly. Aren't you more... touchy?" Lee's grin was almost devilish.

"Why? Would you like me to be?" Gaara's cheeks warmed and he looked away embarrassed. Before he knew it, Lee wrapped his arms around his hips and pulled him in close. On a cold night like this one, Lee's warmth was much welcomed. Gaara wasn't really used to the cold yet. "You just had to ask." Lee teased softly and Gaara could barely keep his eyes opened anymore.

So he was convinced the soft press of Lee's lips on his forehead and the quiet "I love you" was just a part of a very nice dream.

***

Despite going to sleep at an ungodly hour, they were both up by 730am. Lee woke up because he wasn't used to sleeping in and Gaara woke up because he wasn't used to sleeping.

Neither of them made any movements signaling the other that they were awake and alert. Why? Lee was super embarrassed of the erection he had and Gaara just felt warm and lazy. Lee was spooning him from behind and it was just a nice, safe feeling.

Lee reprimanded himself even though he knew he couldn't control an erection in the morning. It didn't happen that often, in fact it hadn't been a problem in quite a while so it was inconvenient that it had to happen now. 

Gaara knew he should get up and get ready so he could spend some time doing leisure activities before selling his soul to the café, so he shifted in the bed and turned to face Lee. Gaara was surprised to see Lee was more alert than just waking up. He wondered how long Lee had been up for. 

"Good morning." Gaara said with a smile and Lee bit his lip at the sight. Gaara's bedhead was possibly cuter than his normal messy hair look, his eyes were half lidded and sleepy, there was an adorable flush to his cheeks and just the fact that Lee was waking up to Gaara cuddling into his arms was everything he wanted.

Lee suddenly had the strongest urge to roll on top of Gaara and press their lips together and let his hands feel all over Gaara's body... His cheeks brightened.

"G-good morning Gaara. I'll be back." Lee was out of the bed and in the bathroom at record time leaving Gaara confused in the bed. After a second of processing what happened, Gaara checked his breath to see if it was so terrible it would cause Lee to run away. How odd.

***

"Lee! Are you going to be training at the dojo this fine morning?!" Guy asked with excitement and Lee smiled sheepishly.

"No, dad. I actually was going to help Gaara at the café today since he is very busy with thanksgiving work. Maybe later?" Guy gave him a thumbs up and whispered something to Kakashi and Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Yeah as if that happened..." Kakashi muttered and picked up his book and ignored everyone at the table.

Gaara finally came downstairs, fresh from a shower and with his hair flat against his face; it made his beautiful eyes pop even more. Lee couldn't do anything but stare. Gaara was gorgeous. How had anyone been created to look this perfect?

"Good morning Gaara!" Lee chirped happily, as if they hadn't already said their good mornings earlier. Gaara gave Lee a soft smile and Lee chugged his juice. "Would you like to do something before we go to work?"

"You're coming with me again today?" Gaara asked, walked over to the counter, Guy passed him a mug of coffee and Gaara took it gratefully and sat down. He didn't know when he started drinking coffee... Yes he did. Oddly enough, it was after he started sleeping more. He became more tired, if that was a thing. His body wasn't used to this much rest. Sometimes, he didn't like it. 

"Oh yes. You said there was much to do and I do not want you to be overwhelmed. Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have and I do not think you can do that after working so hard with no one to help you." Gaara nodded slowly and sipped his coffee.

"Thank you, Lee. As for your question before, I honestly have no idea what to do this early." Lee thought for a moment.

"I think I have an idea." Lee said and jumped out of his seat and ran upstairs to grab a sweater. He noticed Gaara wasn't wearing one so grabbed two of them. He pulled on some socks and jogged down the stairs, tossing the sweater at Gaara and then putting his on. "Dad, would you mind if I borrowed one of the cars?" He asked and Guy smiled and shook his head.

"Not at all, Lee. Take mine, Kakashi may need his later." Lee smiled thankfully and dragged Gaara out of the house. Guy looked over at Kakashi. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Trust me. I can tell." Kakashi insisted and Guy pointed up the stairs.

"But Gaara wasn't in his room last night but clearly slept here." Kakashi put his book down and looked levelly at Guy.

"I am aware. Did you also notice this is not the first time it happened? They seem to like sharing a bed but trust me, I would be able to tell if they weren't virgins anymore." He went back to reading his book and Kakashi stared at the door.

"They remind me of us when we were that age." Kakashi smirked and put his book down again.

"Yeah but if I remember correctly neither of us had a girlfriend, you kept asking me out, and I kept saying no." Guy frowned at him.

"You wound me, rival." Kakashi just laughed.

***

Lee brought them to a plaza where he bought breakfast sandwiches and Gaara some coffee. From there, Lee loaded them up into the car again and began to drive. It was a 15 minute car ride that was taken in silence, and oddly comforting. 

When Lee parked, it was at a parking area on a mountain that overlooked the lands below. It was a beautiful sight, and being late fall, the sun was still low in the sky giving the colors a pink and orange hue before they faded into blue. 

"It's very beautiful, Lee." Gaara commented and Lee handed him his sandwich and Lee smiled at him. They ate in a comfortable silence and Lee kept looking at his passenger with a swell of his heart. Looking at Gaara made him feel whole. 

"Gaara." He said, barely above a whisper. Gaara looked over. "I have not been the best friend these past few weeks, but I would just like to let you know how grateful I am that you have come into my life. You are such a loyal friend and I would never trade you for anything in the world." 

Gaara looked at Lee, dead in his dark black eyes. He wasn't sure what to say. So, Gaara did what he normally did and began to overthink. He thought about Lee's tone. Gentle, loving, full of admiration. He thought of his words. Seemed both thought out, constructed beautifully; yet personal and straight from the heart. He began to think about the happenings of the previous week and felt a sense of guilt for essentially stealing someone's boyfriend's affection, but not enough to stop. Gaara was selfish that way, he wanted to not be, but in his entire life, no one had shown him that type of affection. No one had treated him with that much admiration and love. Gaara wasn't willing to stop that.

So, Gaara stared at Lee for a while and leaned his head to Lee's shoulder. Lee's arms wrapped around Gaara's torso in an embrace. This was comfort. This is what that felt like. Lee always gave him comfort. 

"Are you okay?" Lee said quietly and when Gaara blinked a few times, he realized he was crying. Not much, just a few stray tears fell. Gaara wiped the left side of his cheek and before he could get to the right, Lee stopped his hand. Him and Gaara shared eye contact. They both looked at each other for a while with the beautiful sun in the background, lighting up their faces. "You are beautiful, Gaara." Lee wasn't sure if he meant to say that aloud or not, but it didn't change his opinion. Gaara was beautiful, and someone should've told him a while ago.

"You are very handsome, Rock Lee." Gaara responded and Lee's face turned red. "I mean it." Lee could tell in his voice that he really did mean it. 

Lee wanted to see himself the way Gaara saw him. All the years of bullying for his strange looks and here Gaara was, telling him without a doubt that he was handsome. Lee just couldn't believe it. Gaara was too pure. 

There were more words on the tip of his tongue, more words he needed to convey to Gaara that he couldn't do. Lee just gave Gaara a watery smile and hugged him again, pulling him close. It felt more intimate than any kiss he had with Sakura. Anything he could've ever done with Sakura wouldn't be close to this simple hug he had with Gaara. He was just shaking with emotion, he wanted to tell Gaara how much he was loved but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Lee vowed when he broke up with Sakura, he would show Gaara how he should've been treated his entire life. Lee wiped his eyes and turned his attention to the car.

"It is time we go." He declared, voice wavering. If there was one thing he didn't want to do, it was drive away from this moment. This moment he would hold dear in his mind and his heart for as long as he breathed. Even if Gaara didn't end up with him in the end, this would always be the perfect moment. Nothing was as flawless as sitting on the mountain watching the beautiful sky, sharing the moment with the person Lee held most dear in the world.

***

Through the day, Gaara stayed quiet. He had his earbuds in and he was listening to something on his phone. Lee watched him mouth words so he could only guess it was a song. Which song, he wasn't sure. Lee didn't mind the lack of attention. Gaara seemed adamant about learning whatever he was mouthing. Lee could tell because if it looked like he messed up, Gaara would frown, pick up his phone, and likely restart the song. 

Lee wanted to hear Gaara sing in the worst way. He wondered what Gaara sounded like. Lee bit his lip and a few seconds later, Ino walked into the kitchen. Lee was usually jealous of Ino. He had several reasons to be even though he tried to hide it. Ino was beautiful, she was always with Gaara, they seemed to be developing a friendship quickly and a part of him wondered if Ino had heard Gaara sing. Lee frowned at the thought.

"Hello boys!" She chirped happily and walked to the bathroom. Lee smiled and waved but turned to face Gaara who wasn't paying attention. Typical. Even so, Lee promised he'd get Gaara to sing for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote plots for this story, I listened to music. Specifically music from the talented Casey Breves and his husband Sam Tsui. (If you haven't heard them sing, I implore you to, they're wonderful.)
> 
> Anyway, I'm sure everyone else does it too, you create a daydream based on listening to songs. Well, most of my daydreams were Gaara and Lee actually singing. There was supposed to be a lot of singing in the kitchens but I honestly don't like songfics because when they're written out, it's hard to picture so I stayed away. There will be a couple of songs in this fic, not too much to take up the whole thing. Anyway, if you want to know what they sound like, I've pictured Lee singing like Sam and Gaara singing like Casey. Look them up! Seriously! Plus, it'll make it easier to picture when the songs eventually show up


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts- Gaara and Lee sing together while they make Thanksgiving dinner
> 
> Gaara and Sakura interact (off screen and slightly on screen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the nicest reviews for last chapter!
> 
> Thank you Rae for all of your prompts. (Eventually they will slow dance!) Thank you for your kind words.
> 
> Thank you Halpmehpls7580 for your constant reviewing, it's one of the things that keeps me updating.
> 
> Honestly though, this chapter was written this long and fast (twice the length of normal chapters) because of Luna_Lily and her beautiful comment. Luna-Lilly, this chapter is for you sweetie, I hope everything gets better!
> 
> Thank you Wren for your review and prompts too. They really help the story going!
> 
> Enjoy this emotional rollercoaster!!

Chapter Twenty-one

 

Lee didn't see Gaara work as quickly, efficiently, and beautifully as he did on Thursday. Thanksgiving was turning out to be quite the affair. It was being held at the café and since it was closed, Temari, Shikamaru and Kankuro were in the other room setting up. They pushed tables together, gathered extra chairs, Temari even added some decoration. The bar had an array of different snack foods on it (that thankfully Gaara didn't have to make, the poor guy) and both TVs were on different channels. 

People should begin to arrive in about 3 hours. Ino was on her way now to help. Kakashi and Guy had to do a couple of things but promised they'd be there soon.

Lee wasn't sure who else was invited. He knew the invitation was given to Naruto and Sasuke, which he thought was super nice of Gaara to do, especially because neither of them had much of a family. Sasuke was shocked when Gaara invited him, but agreed with a rare smile. He asked if it was possible to bring his brother and Gaara told him of course. Naruto was thrilled and happily announced he wouldn't have to eat ramen on Thanksgiving again which made Lee frown deeply. He was upset he never thought to invite Naruto over. He knew Naruto was an orphan but he figured his adoptive father would have a family to bring him to.

Lee looked at Gaara cube potatoes and throw them into a large pot. He was impressed with the speed that Gaara was cutting and even more so, he was impressed with the precision. 

Lee was in charge of pies. When Gaara had asked him to do that, Lee grinned. Gaara had a tiny habit of asking Lee to do tasks he didn't want to do. Lee would of course oblige. Gaara could ask him to do anything and Lee would never say no. 

Lee had three pie crusts ready to go and felt proud that there was something he could do in the kitchen that Gaara trusted him to do completely on his own. Lee made sure his pie crusts were perfect, even the crimp. Gaara commented on how nice they were the other day and Lee beamed. He was happy that Gaara found his pies beautiful.

Gaara now had one ear bud in and he was listening to music and mumbling along to it more than singing it. Lee could only hold in his curiosity for so long.

"What have you been listening to?" He asked and Gaara looked up and took the ear bud out.

"Care to guess?" Gaara said simply and wiped his knife off and began cutting garlic.

"...Oh. You seemed to be interested in Beauty and the Beast. Is it Tale as old as Time?" Gaara nodded and Lee smiled. "That is wonderful. I do love that song. I used to sing it to myself all of the time." Lee just realized how pathetic that sounded.

"Oh you did?" Gaara seemed interested. "Then go ahead and sing it."

"W-what? No. I cannot." Lee turned red and Gaara raised a brow and continued to cut more garlic. "It is a duet. Will you accompany me?" Lee decided to try and Gaara smirked at him and looked back at the cutting board. Lee watched him stare intensely at the cuts he was making and was startled to actually hear Gaara start to sing the song.

"Tale as old as time. True as it can be. Barely even friends, then somebody bends unexpectedly." Lee's curiosity was substantially satiated hearing Gaara sing, in fact for a moment he was rendered speechless. Sure, he assumed Gaara would be able to sing, it was just how he sung that amazed him. Gaara, however, kept his eyes on Lee expectantly. Lee colored, he wasn't completely confident, but with his eyes locked onto Gaara's, he continued the song.

"Just a little change. Small to say the least. Both a little scared. Neither one prepared-"

"-Beauty and the beast" Gaara was pleasantly surprised to learn that not only could Lee sing, he could sing well. And well wasn't even cutting it, his voice was beautiful. It was different than his own. Gaara took notes and strictly sung the notes he needed. Lee's voice... it was more show-offy with the note changes that weren't necessary, but he couldn't argue it was beautiful. And when they sung together, their voices just seemed to fit. For two people with vastly different tunes, singing together was just right. "Ever just the same, ever a surprise, ever as before and ever just as sure, as the sun will rise."

Going through the song, taking turns singing, Gaara realized he was singing the woman part but honestly didn't care. Right now, he was standing in the kitchen at one table, knife forgotten, hands gripping the wooden bench with his eyes locked to Lee's. Lee was standing opposite of him at the metal workbench parallel to his and his eyes were unmoving. It was almost like a really intense conversation instead of singing. Neither one of them tried to one up the other and Lee had a smile on his face whereas Gaara had a look of concentration. Lee knew the song more so had more fun, Gaara was just trying to remember the lyrics correctly.

"Certain as the sun..." Lee started, Gaara echoed him and Lee started to move around the table, walking towards Gaara. "Rising in the east."

"Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, beauty and the beast."

"Tale as old as time..." Gaara sung, his voice much quieter now that Lee was standing on the opposite side of his table, less than a foot away.

"Song as old as rhyme..." Lee sung just as softly, feeling himself lean closer.

"Beauty and the beast." They sung together, the same noise level. Gaara felt himself lean more over the table. Lee looked so good in his chef jacket with the script "Gaara" on the left breast pocket. He learned quickly why Lee loved to see Gaara in his clothes. There was something intimately possessive about seeing his name on Lee.

"Beauty and the..." They were so close to each other, Gaara could feel Lee's breath. His body was trembling at Lee's close proximity. Was this honestly happening? "Beast..." Gaara drew the note out as long as he could, voice just above a whisper.

The note was cut off when Lee finally kissed him. It was the softest, most chaste kiss Lee could give. It almost pained him to not kiss him with more force, to really put his emotions in the kiss. Lee also didn't want the kiss to be too much, it was the end of a song and the song ended on such a soft note, that anything more than this kiss would seem excessive. 

Lee pulled away slowly and watched Gaara's eyes flutter open and there was an expression of disbelief on his face.

"Why did you kiss me?" He whispered, unable to find his voice. 

"I-I..." Lee flushed, should he tell him the truth or lie? Say he didn't mean it. It was in the moment. There was so much he could say but nothing he was sure of. "I've been wanting to do that for a while."

"...What about Sakura?" Gaara asked, his heart felt like it was in his throat. He could probably count his heartrate by just feeling the throb in his neck, his heart was beating so hard.

"..." Lee looked ashamed which wasn't the reaction Gaara wanted to see. "I apologize for the timing that I kissed you. I should not have done that while I am with Sakura. Not because there was any part of me that didn't want to kiss you, I assure you every part of me wants to kiss you. But I apologize because it was... not right to do. I do not want you to think I will be like this in every relationship I am in. I do not mean to be a cheater, I am just in love with you." Lee's face burned with embarrassment and shame. Gaara's eyes widened at the admission. In love?

Gaara grabbed Lee by the unbuttoned top flap of his chef jacket and yanked him in close and kissed him. Kissing over the table was quite awkward but Lee didn't mind much. He cupped Gaara's face, lightly at first, but tightened his grip once the kiss became more passionate. Gaara pulled away and went to say something but his eyes traveled to the kitchen door where Ino stood, eyes wide, face red and with a look of shock.

"Hello Ino." Gaara greeted calmly, like she didn't walk into something so private. Lee tensed and quickly turned around, his face red. 

"Hi..." For someone that wouldn't shut up, she sure was quiet now. "Gaara sweetie, can I talk to you?" Gaara nodded and they both went into the bathroom. Lee stared at the door in horror. What had he done? What if Ino and Gaara were together and he just broke them up? What if Ino threw this in Sakura's face before he got the chance to break up with her? Lee felt so ashamed. He shouldn't have done that. At the same time, he was glad he did.

In the bathroom, Ino was starting to be able to articulate words.

"What did I just walk in on?" She whispered and Gaara smirked at her. "Oh Gaara... Sweetie. I totally take credit for this."

"You? I'm the one who essentially dragged him across the table." Gaara whispered back harshly and Ino's grin was almost feral. "Fine, you can take credit if it makes you feel better."

"How much do you wanna bet he's totally out there freaking out?" Ino said with a laugh as she put on her chef jacket.

"That's a strong possibility. I don't regret it though. He told me he's in love with me though." Ino's jaw dropped at the same time, she smiled.

"Holy shit, really? That's awesome. Now you two can get ~married~!" Gaara frowned at her.

"How does anything involving Lee eventually turn into us getting married. Would you like me to say you're going to get married at the next person you show interest in?" Ino went to make a remark and stopped herself with a smirk.

"Nice use of the lack of pronouns." She addressed and he inclined his head slightly.

"Thanks I try. I think you'd say that sentence 'nice lack of the use of pronouns' though." Gaara corrected and Ino glared at him and held out her arms. Gaara took the hint and helped her roll up her sleeves. 

"Can you not be a smartass for 3 goddamn seconds?" She sighed and Gaara perked a brow that essentially was a "no". "Yeah I figured. Anyway, are you going to be making out the entire time? Should I leave? I'm sure I have condoms in my bag somewhere..." She opened her purse and Gaara threw a stack of paper towels at her. "Fine, I'll look later." 

"We aren't going to use condoms Ino." He said with his face pink.

"Oh going in raw?" Gaara's face turned even more red.

"Can we not talk about this? Please. It's making me uncomfortable." Ino raised an eyebrow but said nothing and hung up her bag.

"Of course sweetie. I'll make fun of you for it later." She opened the bathroom door and they walked out together. When Gaara looked up he saw that Lee was back at his own table working way to hard on the pies to be considered normal. His face was still very red and Ino shoved Gaara over towards Lee's table and loudly announced "I'm going to get some coffee I'll be back in 3 minutes." And walked out of the kitchen.

"Sorry about her." Gaara said blankly, glaring at her figure as she left. "She's a nuisance."

"Oh n-not at all." Gaara examine Lee's face and leaned on the table Lee was working on. Lee eventually stopped working and looked at Gaara. "I-I..."

"You are embarrassed, I see that. There is no need. Ino isn't out to get you." Gaara promised and Lee nodded meekly. "I'm sorry if I put you in an uncomfortable position."

"Oh no, Gaara. You did not. I put myself in one but I cannot say I actually mind." Gaara stared at Lee intently. "What?"

"Do you really... love... me?" He said slowly and Lee's face broke out into a beautiful smile. 

"I do." The way Lee stared at Gaara made Gaara feel a swarm of emotions. 

"Then why are you with Sakura?" The question wasn't angry, it wasn't really any emotion. It was almost a statement. A statement that made Lee's smile slip away.

"Gaara how are we looking in here?" Temari asked from the doorway.

"We're fine. How are we looking out there?"

"Almost completely set up. I wanted to let you know something though. Uncle Yashamaru will be here." Gaara stopped, his body tensed and he looked up and Temari looked even more uncomfortable. "So will dad."

"...Why is Rasa coming when I'm cooking all of the food? Doesn't he want something not made from a demon?" Temari walked in and hugged Gaara.

"I told them not to come but you know how dad is." Gaara broke away from Temari.

"No. I worked so damn hard on this dinner and now he's going to come and just fuck everything up." 

"I will not let him. Neither will dad and Kakashi, you know that." Lee said as sure as he could. 

"I need a minute alone." Gaara stormed out of the kitchen and Temari winced when she heard the front door slam. Ino was in the kitchen in a second.

"What the hell happened to Gaara?" She asked, eyes mainly on Lee. Lee held up his arms defensively. 

"Dad is coming to Thanksgiving." Temari mumbled, unsure if Ino even know that much about Gaara.

"Ew." Ino frowned at the news. "My poor Gaara." Lee was suddenly annoyed that Ino knew what Rasa showing up meant to Gaara. Who gave her the right to know? Lee frowned at himself and tried to swallow down jealousy. He wouldn't understand where it kept coming from. 

***

Gaara climbed up onto the roof of the building and hid in such a way that no one could see him. He really didn't need anyone bothering him right now. Not even Lee. Lee was the one clouding his mind too much right now. 

Gaara was able to hear Ino and Lee coming outside and saw the tops of their heads. Gaara laid down on the roof and stared up at the sky. It was about 12pm and it was beautiful outside, even if it was cold. The air felt nice on Gaara's skin, he was so warm. 

"Where do you suppose Gaara went?" Ino's voice asked.

"He said he would like to be alone. So probably somewhere that we cannot find him for now. We should give him time. Would you like to assist me with the rest of the list? We can at least help Gaara while he is calming down." Lee, always the voice of reason.

"...okay." Ino didn't seem keen on not looking for Gaara and Gaara felt nice that they even came outside to try. But Lee was right, he didn't need distractions right now. He just wanted to think. There was so much to think about.

***

Ino had made croissants and biscuits and they were in the oven baking. Lee finished the pies and they were cooling on the rack. They both peeled vegetables for different dishes, portioned things out for the main dishes. Ino basted the turkey and taught Lee why she was doing it. They put in the extra serving of stuffing that wouldn't fit in the turkey in a small pan. 

Ino made cookies, just regular chocolate chip. Just to say she did something. She was growing anxious with Gaara nowhere to be found. Lee too, he kept staring at the door. Temari insisted he was okay and to let him cool down. It was stressful when Rasa was involved.

Eventually, Gaara showed up in the kitchen. He had earbuds in so Lee knew he didn't want to talk. He walked around the kitchen making a note of everything that was done already. He began boiling the potatoes and saw the rest of the ingredients for mashed potatoes was scaled out and ready to go. He gave them a nod of thanks but said nothing more on the matter.

Finishing Thanksgiving dinner was done in silence. It was awkward and Lee didn't like it. He wished he could tell Temari that Rasa was not allowed to come. Even though this was his business and his family. 

Guy and Kakashi burst through the kitchen doors, startling everyone.

"Wow! What a beautiful setup!" Guy said joyously. "We should get this at home!"

"Why? So you can continue to burn cereal?" Kakashi said dryly and Guy ignored him.

"Happy Thanksgiving, all!" Guy announced and even Gaara had to hide his smirk. He wasn't supposed to be in a good mood but Guy was too entertaining to not smile at.

"We brought your nice clothes since apparently you two think you can have a nice family meal in chef jackets." Kakashi said, holding up two hangers.

"Thank you, Kakashi." It was the first thing Gaara said in nearly two hours.

"What do you have left?" He asked and Gaara looked around and shrugged.

"Nothing really. Just the finishing touches." Kakashi nodded and pointed to the door that used to be Gaara's room.

"Shall I hang this up for when you can get ready?" Gaara nodded and Kakashi went to the room and hung them up and came back. Guy was talking to Lee, both of them very animated so Kakashi ignored them both. Kakashi leaned on the table, bringing himself closer to Gaara's height. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." He promised and Gaara nodded slowly. "I swear it. None of us will. You're our family now, forget him. He doesn't matter."

"Thank you, Kakashi." Gaara said quietly and Kakashi nodded.

"Now get ready so you don't look like that. Everyone is arriving now and the chef should look presentable. Where is Ino?" Gaara nudged his head towards the bathroom and Kakashi smirked.

"Already getting ready I see. Women." Kakashi laughed and the corner of Gaara's mouth curled up. "Anyway, get ready! Both of you!" Kakashi left the kitchen, dragging Guy behind him.

"I suppose we should get ready now." Lee said nervously and Gaara nodded and walked into his old room. Lee didn't follow, he was probably unsure if Gaara wanted to get changed with him or not. Gaara gave him some time while he examined the clothes Kakashi picked out for the two. Gaara didn't have nice clothes for a dinner so he was curious what was picked out. 

Gaara grabbed the hanger and pulled it down. These weren't his clothes. Nice gray slacks, very soft for dress pants. Gaara could tell they were for him since the legs were shorter than what Lee's legs would fit. He felt the shirt that came with it, it felt like the softest fabric Gaara ever touched. He looked at the shirt more closely and saw the tags were still on them with the price ripped off. Kakashi had bought him clothes. The realization made his heart clench and he sat down holding the clothes close to him. This is what parents did. They didn't call their children demons and refuse to let them live in their house. Kakashi was a true parent, not Rasa.

Gaara's mouth pressed tightly together and with shaky hands he examined the tag. It was a cashmere sweater. Gaara never felt cashmere before. It was so nice. He brought it to his face and rubbed it on his cheek. The sweater had a large collar and it buttoned to about his mid-chest. The buttons were rather large and a darker brown, there were pockets on both sides of the sweater. Underneath it was another shirt, it was green.

His eyes wandered to the floor and he saw two pairs of dress shoes. He couldn't really control his emotions at that point. Kakashi and Guy went out to but him new clothes and new shoes because they knew he didn't have them. There was a tiny knock on the door, then Lee walked in. He looked at Gaara on the futon, his eyes red and watery and he was holding a sweater to his chest.

"Are you okay?" Lee was at his side and hugging him in an instant. Gaara sniffled and rubbed his eyes until they didn't feel like they were tearing anymore.

"I'm fine. No one has ever gone out of their way for me like Kakashi and Guy. I'm just thankful." Lee smiled at him and hugged him again. 

"You've found the purpose of thanksgiving at least." Gaara nodded and stood back up and walked over to the shoes. He knew they were his because Lee's feet were bigger. Gaara was just realizing how large Lee was. He picked up the shoes and examined them. They were brown leather shoes with the tips blackened. They looked pretty classy. "I hope you do not mind, I stole a pair of your shoes to get your size." Lee admitted.

"You got them for me?" Gaara asked with wide eyes.

"I helped them get your size. Kakashi picked out most of the clothes. He didn't want dad to do it. He said, and I quote 'I don't think Gaara wants to look like a fucking idiot, put those clothes away'." Gaara smiled and didn't agree with Lee, but Lee knew he did. Guy had a weird sense of style. "Put them on, I would love to see how you look."

Gaara nodded and unbuttoned his chef jacket and hung it up on the pipes. He had an undershirt on and hesitantly took it off. Lee was able to actually see him up close and he was right. Gaara did have scars on his back. Long thin wiry scars. Some puncture marks. It was all so strange. Gaara turned to face Lee and there were even some on his chest.

"What happened to you?" Lee asked quietly and Gaara looked down at his chest and his eyes grew softer.

"I wasn't well liked growing up." He said simply and pulled on his new green shirt. Lee stood up and hugged Gaara again.

"I like you enough for everyone." He admitted and Gaara laughed dryly.

"I thought you loved me." Lee pulled away to look into Gaara's eyes.

"I do. I told you I do." Lee didn't ask Gaara if Gaara loved him in return, he would learn eventually. He just smiled at Gaara and helped him put on his new sweater. 

Lee stepped back and started to take off his own chef jacket and hung it up next to Gaara's. Lee didn't wear an undershirt. Gaara's eyes examined Lee's chest as he took off his checkered pants and pulled on his new gray pants. Lee was muscular. He wasn't so ridiculously muscular that it looked like too much. He very noticeably had abs, his arms were toned, he was lean. He looked perfect. 

"You have a nice body." Gaara noted and Lee blushed, Gaara saw how it went down his neck and even to his shoulders. 

"Thank you." Lee pulled on a collared red shirt and a gray cardigan. The way the shirt was, Gaara could see the muscles in his shoulders. The shirt hugged the muscles in his arms and Lee folded the sweater sleeves up to his elbows. Gaara sat down to put on his new shoes at the same time Lee took off his sweatpants to put on his black dress pants. Gaara noticed how nicely curved his butt was. He also wondered why he didn't really care to look at anyone else, but when it was Lee he just admired everything about him.

Once they were both dressed, Lee pulled out a brush from his bag and brushed Gaara's hair. Gaara watched Lee's face of concentration and the tongue that stuck out just slightly between his lips. 

"Perfect." Gaara smiled and Lee kissed his forehead. Gaara grabbed Lee's cheeks and pulled him down and kissed him on the lips, feeling Lee's smile against his own.

***

Temari was setting up the table with all the food that was put on platters. Her and Ino shared the bathroom where they put on makeup and gossiped about pretty much everything. She could tell there was something Ino wasn't saying and knew it was about her brother, hopefully it was about her brother and Lee. She didn't know how long they were going to dance around each other like this but it was progressively getting more and more ridiculous. Kankuro was putting paper plates in front of everyone's seat and the door opened and Temari looked up. Sasuke, Itachi, Naruto and some guy she never saw before. She stood up straight and walked over to the door where Kakashi and Guy had already greeted everyone.

"Temari! You know these three so they don't matter." Guy brushed them off and Sasuke rolled his eyes and him and Naruto walked away, Itachi following. "This is Naruto's guardian, Jiraiya. Also the writer of Kakashi's favorite book series..." Guy mumbled and Jiraiya gave a thumbs up.

"Nice to meet you. Make yourself comfortable, dinner is ready everyone is just getting dressed." Temari smiled and walked away.

"Now, all you have to do is act like that all night." Guy instructed and Jiraiya raised his eyebrow.

"But I didn't even say anything." Kakashi looked up.

"Exactly." The two said in unison and Jiraiya frowned and glowered at them.

After they showed up, Lee and Gaara walked out from the back and Temari cooed over how handsome Gaara looked and took about 200 pictures, most of which had Gaara cross armed and glaring at her. She didn't mind. 

Ino grabbed Gaara and they secluded themselves on a couch and looked to be in deep discussion and Naruto and Sasuke talked to Lee. 

"What's going on man? You look exhausted." Naruto noted and Lee sighed.

"So much emotion today, Naruto. I do not believe I can handle more." He admitted and over with Ino and Gaara, Ino noticed how Gaara blanched.

"What?" She asked and Gaara smacked himself in the head. "What!?"

"I forgot I invited Sakura." He mumbled and Ino's eyes grew comically wide.

"You what!?" She harshly whispered and Gaara looked at Ino and closed his eyes. He felt a headache coming on. "Why would you invite billiard-brow?"

"Because I wanted to surprise Lee." Gaara responded and Ino watched Lee's face when he noticed Sakura was now here.

"Well honey, you sure the fuck did."

"This dinner is going to be a disaster." Gaara groaned and saw Sakura giggled at Lee's look of shock. She looked pretty, nice and dolled up. She had a nice sweater dress that hugged her curves and her hair was pinned up and she had nice makeup on. Lee turned to face Gaara and Gaara waved at him, mortified.

"Stop friend-zoning yourself. You did this on your own. You didn't need to be nice. I told you to break them up to begin with!" Ino hissed quietly and Gaara scowled at her.

"You think I don't already know that?" To make things worse, the door opened and his father and his uncle walked in. "I'm going to be sick..."

***

The good points of the dinner, Gaara made an amazing spread with the help of Ino and Lee. All the food was delicious and most likely there wouldn't be leftovers.

The bad points of dinner... There were just so many of them. 

Ino was able to sit next to Gaara but before Lee could sit on the other end, his dad sat down with Kakashi on the other side, both of them trying to act like it wasn't completely because Rasa was there, and failing. So Gaara got to see Lee sit next to Sakura with Sasuke on his other side next to Itachi. Across from them was Naruto and Jiraiya. The table was just a mess of people. There should've been a seating chart but there wasn't. Since Gaara sat at the head of the table, Rasa sat at the other head, almost as a challenge. All Gaara heard was Sakura's voice and even it was Lee's girlfriend, he understood it would be terrible of Lee to break up with her on Thanksgiving after she was invited by Gaara. She would think it was a big setup and be super pissed so now he got to watch Lee be uncomfortable with Sakura acting like everything was fine.

Rasa made dumb comments all throughout dinner that weren't necessarily nice. Temari kicked him under the table several times but he didn't seem to care. Somehow Sasuke was outed as being gay, no one really knew how that conversation started but Sasuke stormed off, Naruto stumbling behind him calling out to him trying to cheer him up. The comments Jiraiya made, were hysterical, inappropriate, and Itachi and him got into an argument.

Rasa actually insulted Lee on something and Lee's face turned red and he went to stand up from himself and that turned into Rasa vs. Kakashi and Guy. Temari hid her face and wished she was anywhere but there. Ino was eating but watching intently. Gaara was fairly certain he descended into a deeper part of hell.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Ino whispered and Gaara nodded vigorously.

***

Ino, Gaara, Lee and Sakura snuck out to the kitchen. They all sat on the lower part of the tables and Gaara held his head and rubbed his temples. 

"You okay, Gaara?" Sakura's voice asked softly and Gaara sighed.

"Sorry about my father, guys." He said and Lee frowned at him.

"Rasa? No that is not your father. He is nothing. Do not feel badly for the things that he said. He means nothing to any of us, okay? You live with me, Gaara. Kakashi and Guy are your fathers now, okay?" Gaara nodded and Lee hugged him.

Sakura and Ino shared a look and Sakura wondered exactly what she missed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you guys didn't think that I would break up Lee and Sakura yet. Don't worry, there's still time for me to fuck everything up and make everyone of you hate me.
> 
> Or is there?
> 
> Anyway, I'm going to offer my 100th commenter a oneshot of their choosing. Let's see who gets there! 
> 
> And if you're reading this, I have 2 more gaalee stories that I can't seem to finish so if possible help me out! It's not unusual and Autumn! Thank you


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts:   
> -Gaara can't sleep after Thanksgiving. Ino takes him black Friday shopping, though he ends up just being an extra set of hands for ino's bags.  
> -After Thanksgiving is the time that guy really wants to decorate the house and get a Christmas tree. Kakashi reminds him its only November and he needs to Stop.  
> -Followup on naruto and sasuke after the poor boy was outed over dinner?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter I got 5 comments! Thank you everyone! You really made my day! Multiple times! Thank you Rae for your wonderful prompts that keep the story going. Thank you uurahara for your kind words. (Just gonna reiterate it's a slow burn story so don't get your hopes up yet!) Thank you Luna_Lilly for telling me your reactions, I love hearing how my story made people feel. (I'm glad my words meant a lot to you, as your review means a lot to me!) Halpmehpls7580, you can write reviews as long as you'd like, I love reading them. Originally I wasn't sure if Kakashi and Guy were going to be together or not but they slowly decided they were a thing so who am I to stand in the way of love? And with the gaalee being slow and natural, trust me. This story is far from over and they haven't had their fill of high school drama yet. (So many things I can't wait for and I'm excited to write them!0

Chapter Twenty-two

That night, Ino slept over and Lee felt so empty. Gaara was reasonably upset, but he seemed to distance himself from Lee the most. Lee wanted to be the one Gaara went to. Not tonight. For a while Gaara and Ino were on the couch just talking and when Lee walked in, they stopped talking to stare at him.

"Just saying goodnight." Lee forced a smile.

"Oh. Goodnight, Lee." Gaara said without emotion. 

"Would you like me to do anything for you before I go to bed?" Lee asked and Gaara shook his head.

"No thank you, Lee." 

So Lee went to his room and stared at his ceiling with emotions just swirling around his mind. Sakura called him to talk for a while. He wondered if she knew Ino was over and wanted to check on him. If she did, she didn't mention it. She did have some interesting questions though.

"Hey Lee, is Gaara okay?" Lee was surprised by the amount of concern in her voice. "I mean his dad was really shitty tonight and I was just wondering if he's doing alright."

"I am unsure. I do not think so but he does not wish to talk to me right now. He is with Ino." Sakura stayed quiet for a minute.

"How did those two become friends, anyway? I mean, Ino and I used to be friends when we were younger and I can't imagine her being friends with someone like Gaara." Lee frowned.

"Why not? Gaara is an amazing person-"

"Lee I'm not insulting Gaara. I'm just saying from what I know of Ino, and the little I know of Gaara, I can't imagine they'd have common ground to speak on. Haven't you ever wondered what they talk about?" Lee had to admit that he did.

"Last time I heard them talking, they were arguing over when to put milk in cereal so I am sure they do not run out of dumb things to say." Lee said with a fond smile. "I also hear them watching scary movies a lot. Ino gets scared and Gaara laughs at her."

"...Hey Lee, I have a question."

"Yes, blossom?" There was a stifled giggle from the other line.

"Okay, I don't want you to think I'm being rude or anything, this is just curiosity. I know it's none of my business, but... is Gaara gay?" Lee doesn't know why he told Sakura, it just came out.

"No, he's demisexual. Ino calls him gay though and he doesn't care." Lee smacked himself in the face for providing all of the information Sakura shouldn't have. As far as Lee knew, Lee was the only one Gaara told. He didn't even tell Ino.

"Oh. That's interesting. I wonder how he figured that out." But like word vomit...

"He told me he thought he was asexual but felt attraction to someone he loved and found out that he could feel those emotions that way." Lee said and face-palmed. He didn't know what the hell he was doing. A part of him just wanted to talk about Gaara, but he shouldn't be telling Sakura his personal business.

"Do you know who it was?" Sakura asked and Lee paused. That was a good question. Gaara seemed to like him, yes. But... he found out he was demi because he was intimate with someone he loved. As far as Lee could remember, they weren't intimate. The feeling of dread hit his stomach hard. "Lee?"

"I... I actually do not know." Sakura made a noise.

"Oh Lee, I know he's your best friend but sometimes friends have secrets. I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready. Anyway, enough about Gaara. How do you think Sasuke is doing now that he was outed at dinner?"

"I know Sasuke will be okay. I am going to call him a bit later. With any luck, me holding off calling him will ensure that he tells Naruto his feelings." Sakura laughed and it was such a nice sound to hear right now.

"Yeah, everyone knew but Naruto. Isn't that silly?" But Lee didn't agree. He couldn't.

***

"Sasuke! There you are, man. I've been looking for you for like, ever." Naruto grumbled and sat next to his sulking friend. Sasuke sat on a park bench in the town square. There were only a few street lamps around and Sasuke's face was barely illuminated by the light.

"You weren't supposed to actually find me, idiot." Sasuke snapped and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Hey buddy, listen. Just because I know you're gay like 100% for sure, doesn't mean anything to me. No idea why you ran off. No one at that table cares. I mean, maybe Rasa because that guys a fuckin' prick. He was so rude all night! And I have NO idea how he insulted that food. Just sayin' I left before dessert to find your sorry ass, Sasuke. Anyway, my original statement, no one cares. I know you probably wanted to do it yourself, but Itachi loves you, pervy old grandpa of mine loves you,... Temari doesn't even know you... Basically the people who know you don't care and the people that don't know you don't give a shit because they don't know you. Is this making sense?"

"Naruto, for the love of Christ, stop rambling." Naruto punched Sasuke's arm.

"Hey, asshole, I'm trying to be a good friend here. You're makin' it kinda difficult with your... personality." Sasuke scoffed.

"Wow, a word that is 5 syllables, how long did it take you to learn that one?" Naruto completely ignored him.

"Hey Sasuke, now that I know for sure you're gay, wanna tell me how you found out? Like did you check me out and were like 'whoa man, Naruto is super hot, I love penis.' Or like, what? I mean, no matter what you say, I will always know the truth, and I just said the truth, so..." Sasuke looked away from Naruto and stared at a tree. Why was Naruto the dumbest person but said things that were true. "Hey, Sasuke, I'm just trying to make you laugh."

"Why?!" Sasuke snapped and Naruto flinched and leaned back on the bench, his expression crestfallen.

"..." He shifted on the bench and sighed. In the softest, most defeated voice he whispered, "I just wanted to make you happy forever cause you're always so sad." 

Sasuke froze. The words repeated in his head several times. He couldn't fight the initial response to the words with his eyes tearing up. He continued to stare at the tree in front of him and noticed that Naruto didn't move from his spot. 

"...Thank you." Sasuke said quietly and felt Naruto's hand on his back.

"I'm here for you, man. You know I'll always be here." Sasuke wondered how true it was. For now, he didn't question it. He let Naruto rub his back while both of them sat on a park bench in the darkness looking at the sky. 

***

Ino and Gaara did not sleep at all. Gaara didn't mind, he preferred not sleeping, especially when it wasn't with Lee since he liked cuddling. Now that he thought about it, he was fairly certain he would've been able to cuddle with Ino if he wanted to. She was a very snuggly person. When she wasn't talking and being a bitch like normal.

At around 3 in the morning, Ino, Gaara and Kakashi sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee. None of them said anything, they just sipped on their coffee. That was, until Guy ran down the stairs in one of the ugliest outfits any of them had ever seen, but he was super happy about something so that was good at least.

"Rival!" Kakashi made a hand gesture like 'what do you want from my life' and Guy pulled out a catalogue. "I was up looking at all of the black Friday sales instead of doing anything you asked me to do," Kakashi rolled his eyes but didn't seem surprised, "and I found out that this sporting goods shop is having a wonderful sale and we can buy things for the dojo! Let's go! The store opens at 630, but if we go now we can sit in front of the door and wait for them to open." Everyone stared at him.

"Who the fuck gets up at 3 in the morning to get sporting equipment?" Kakashi's tone just oozed with defeat and Ino bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, wanting to ask the same question. Gaara was used to this so didn't think to question it. "Trust me. We'll be fine if we wait." 

"But-but-!" Guy protested and pointed to Gaara and Ino. "They are awake! This means there are people awake for black Friday this early!"

"Guy, if we were going anywhere this early for a black Friday sale, it wouldn't be sports equipment. It would be electronics." Gaara explained and sipped on his coffee.

"There is no reason for us to go now. What did you two want to buy anyway?" Gaara shrugged.

"I assumed I was being dragged along to hold Ino's bags." Ino smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh, honey~!" She cooed. "You know me so well!" Gaara rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm totally going for the makeup deals and they don't open their doors for a while. And that's inside the mall so I can't really stand outside the door to them unless we break in." Guy gave her a look.

"No, we aren't breaking in, Guy, damn it, what is wrong with you." Kakashi rubbed his temples and Guy just smiled at him. "We aren't going." Guy continued to smile. "I said we aren't-"

***

Guy, Ino, Kakashi, Gaara, and a half asleep Lee were in the car driving to the mall at 3:27am.

"I fucking hate everything." Kakashi grumbled and Guy drove with the biggest grin on his face.

***

"Ohhhh! Gaara! You look so cute! My little panda!" Gaara glared at Ino but Lee seemed to have the same expression on his face that she did.

"You are very cute, Gaara!" He agreed and Gaara ripped off the panda sweater.

"I'm not buying a panda sweater. You couldn't pay me to wear that thing. I thought we were here to buy makeup. Why are we in this store?" Ino shrugged.

"There was a huge line. But we can totally go back." So that's how Sakura found Lee, Gaara and Ino. With Ino dragging both boys by their arms to the makeup store.

"Lee?! What are you doing here so early?" Sakura asked and the question of why he was with Ino stayed quiet, for now.

"My dad needed to get here 3 hours before opening to buy dojo equipment. He decided at 3am that I did not need to sleep today and put all of us in the car. Much to everyone's surprise, I am sure, the sports store was completely empty and we did not shockingly have to get here 3 hours before the mall opened. Now, he is buying Christmas decorations and Kakashi is not very happy. I am unsure how we are all fitting in the car to get back." Gaara snorted. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Oh. I'm buying Christmas gifts. It's the best time, after all." Gaara shared a look with Ino. 

"Why didn't I think of that?" He mumbled and Ino shrugged.

"I don't know but you can buy me makeup for Christmas if you want." Gaara scoffed and Ino smirked. "Don't be a wiseass. You should be nice to me, I'm your bestie for life. We should get best friend necklaces!" Gaara gave her a warning look and now Ino looked way too excited and Gaara knew he was fucked.

"If you're going to force this on me, can I please recommend that it isn't... awful." Ino smiled sweetly at him.

"Of course you can recommend it. Doesn't mean I'll listen."

"You're a bitch."

"You're an asshole. Now let's go, lover. I'm sure Lee would like time with... his woman." Ino said, eyeing the two. Lee felt shame realizing her jab that Sakura wouldn't understand. Ino linked arms with Gaara and the two walked away, leaving Lee with Sakura alone.

"I seriously don't understand how they're friends, but I guess it works." Sakura was still confused. "Have you heard from Sasuke?"

"Huh?... Oh, yes. I talked to him last night. He is okay. He said he talked to Naruto for a while." Sakura grinned and Lee shook his head. "No. Nothing of the sort." She frowned. "We can only hope he gains the courage soon."

"Why? Naruto isn't going anywhere." Lee nodded but wondered if that was true. "Anyway, wanna come shopping with me? I already bought your gift so don't worry, you won't find it." She winked and he laughed nervously.

***

"Guy, for the love of Christ, why the fuck are we at a pine tree lot?" Guy parked the car and turned it off. "Please don't tell me we're buying a tree right now."

"Time to buy our tree!" Lee cheered from the back and opened the door.

"See? Lee is excited." Guy argued and Kakashi sighed and mumbled an 'he's always excited' under his breath. Ino and Gaara exited the car and they were impressed with how many people were actually buying their Christmas tree.

"I've never had a Christmas tree before." Gaara admitted quietly, not realizing he said it out-loud. Ino and Lee looked at each other, then at Gaara. That was a silent vow that they were going to pick the best damned tree in the lot.

Lee helped Ino and Gaara on the truck that would drive them to the fields and laughed watching his dad take so many pictures of the trees and Kakashi and Kakashi was just arguing with him the entire time. 

It was a beautiful day outside and Gaara looked up at the blue sky and smiled. If he leaned in a little too close to Lee, no one mentioned it.

In fact, he was pretty sure he saw Ino take a picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it a problem for anyone that the story is so long and it's only been like 3 months since the story began? Should I time skip more? Is it getting too drawn out? idk.
> 
> Reminder that commenter 100 gets a oneshot of their choosing! 
> 
> Another reminder to check out my other GaaLee stories that are on a a hiatus because of writers block. Help me out of it!!


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts:
> 
> -make gaara and Lee decorate the tree  
> -Because this is Gai, all of the ornaments should be either really gaudy, strange novelties, or handmade (Lee's school project ornaments make up a large portion)  
> \- Gaara likes a smaller, not-so-impressive tree. (I loved this idea!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! 6 comments! Thank you so much!  
> Rae- Thank you for your prompts, sorry I couldn't fit any in this chapter! (I love a suffering Kakashi) And I got your autumn comments (yes, I'm glad you caught that easter egg!)  
> NutellaIsAwesome- Aw that is so kind for you to say! I'm glad you enjoy my story that much. Thank you for your comment it meant a lot to me!  
> RainiDayz- Incase you didn't see in the prompts, I loved your prompt idea, it was such a Gaara thing to happen! Thank you!  
> Leah- Always happy to be someone's guilty pleasure! ;)  
> Wren- I don't typically like Sakura but people do so I try not to bash her. I don't want her to just be a bitchy girlfriend, it has to be difficult for Lee to break her heart, not easy or it wouldn't be much of a drama. There's really not nothing that will happen, if I write day by day there will always be drama happening, if I time skip I won't write the little side stories. It'll be a while before these two are together. Thanks for the prompt!  
> Halpmehpls7580- Thank you! Like I said, I love a done Kakashi he's great. We'll get more with the Naruto Sasuke arc eventually. Yes! I got your comments on Autumn, thank you!
> 
> Enjoy my picture of my brotp

Chapter Twenty-three

Getting a tree turned out to be a lot harder than anyone thought. They were constantly arguing about the kind, the color, the width, the height. That is, until Ino and Lee saw the most perfect tree.

They ran over to it excitedly. It was a nice height, not too tall, the width was perfectly proportioned, it almost looked drawn with how nice it was. The color was a lighter green and the pines weren't as prickly. It was the one! 

Lee turned around excitedly to look for Gaara, only to discover he wasn't behind them. Lee gave Ino a confused look and she shrugged. They sprinted back the way they came, looking for Gaara but couldn't find him.

"Damn it! Why does he have to be so short?" Ino muttered and Lee smiled, he loved how short Gaara was, he thought it was cute. "Gaara! Damn, I really hope no one else gets the tree!"

Finally, they found Gaara. He looked to be lost, considering he was surrounded by the trees that... didn't have the easiest time growing. They were under 2 feet, lopsided, some of them didn't have that many branches. They were, in nice terms, hideous. Lee's step faltered when he saw Gaara staring at them with a look of concentration.

"Gaara! There you are. We found the perfect tree." Ino exclaimed happily and Gaara looked up and tilted his head.

"So have I." He said simply and Lee and Ino looked around trying to find a tree that beat theirs.

"Where?" Ino asked after a minute and Gaara walked through the stunted trees and knelt down next to one. This one wasn't the most hideous one, but it also wasn't a very nice looking tree either. It was lopsided, but it had a nice green color. There was a patch of branches missing so there was a large gap and it was probably a foot tall.

"I want this one." Ino smiled at him.

"Um, Gaara, that one is kind of small, don't you think?" Gaara looked up at her confused.

"I don't know, I've never celebrated Christmas. I assumed we were to find the tree that spoke to them the most and I am looking at this one and this is the one that calls out to me. It's small, unlikely to be picked by another family, it isn't perfect and I don't believe it's healthy enough to survive into next year. I want this tree. It reminds me of me. I want us to have Christmas together." Gaara explained calmly and Ino heard a choking noise and turned her head to see Lee sobbing.

"That is so beautiful Gaara! Of course we will buy this tree!" Lee embraced Gaara in a tight hug and Gaara looked at him oddly, not understanding the weight of his words on Lee.

"Hey kids! What have you found?" Guy asked and Lee turned to him and wiped the tears off his face.

"We pick this one." Lee announced while sniffling.

"Um... I don't believe that will fit all of Guy's decorations. Why don't we have two trees this year?" Lee agreed and turned to look at Gaara and saw that his saw was abandoned on the side and Gaara was using his hands to dig the tree out of the ground.

"What are you doing?" Ino asked and Gaara looked up.

"I don't want to cut him." He said innocently and Lee started crying again and helped Gaara dig the tree out from the ground. Guy and Kakashi looked at each other and shook their heads.

***

Lee and Gaara were setting up the tiny tree in Gaara's bedroom. It barely took up any space. Ino, who has had plenty of plant experience being how her family owned a plant nursery, took it upon herself to get a nice pot and soil for Gaara's new tree on their way home. 

"Would you like some decorations for your tree?" Gaara stared at it and shook his head.

"No. Not yours, anyway. Nothing against you I would just like to have my tree have ornaments that mean something to me. We can decorate the one downstairs thought if you want." Lee nodded and thought of all the decorations they could make together for Gaara's tree.

Getting downstairs was a problem with all of the boxes of Christmas decorations. When they finally made it to the living room, it looked like Santa Claus vomited violently all over and everyone was impressed Guy managed to do all of this in 15 minutes. Kakashi sat on the couch with his arms crossed while Christmas music blared from the radio near Guy. 

"What the hell is this?" Gaara asked quietly, as he'd never seen someone with that much Christmas spirit.

"This is hell. The deepest ring of it." Kakashi murmured and started reading his book trying to drown out the sounds of Christmas, considering it's not even December yet.

Guy made them help hang tinsel and Christmas lights around the house. He even through a small box at Ino and she opened it, scoffed, passed it to Gaara with a wink and grabbed a different box and walked away. Gaara opened it and tilted his head to the side but in neat writing on the lid of the box it said "hang in doorways" so Gaara walked to a doorway and looked up. He couldn't reach. He frowned.

"Lee. I need your help." For some strange reason he heard Ino laughing at his request, she was probably teasing him for being short. Lee was at his side in seconds with a smile.

"Of course, Gaara. What do you need?" Gaara held up the box and Lee turned pink but smiled anyway. "Oh! Um, yes, I'll help." Lee was pretty amazed at Gaara being so forward! Lee picked up the first piece of mistletoe and hung it up in the center of the doorframe and cupped Gaara's face and kissed him softly. "Anything else?" Gaara looked a bit startled at the random kiss and his cheeks heated up. Well that was random. Gaara looked back down at the box and there were 5 more pieces.

"There's still more." Gaara noted quietly. He wasn't sure why Lee would only help him with one and not the rest. Lee grinned and nodded.

"So there is. Would you like help with these ones too?" He asked and Gaara nodded, looking confused.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Seriously, did Lee think he was going to grow from doorframe to doorframe?

Lee followed Gaara around and Gaara picked the doorways that would have the mistletoe in them and Lee would pin them up and kiss Gaara each time. Gaara was getting more and more confused but he didn't think it was a bad thing. He liked when Lee kissed him. But why was he kissing him so much with Guy and Kakashi around?

When they were done, Lee gave him one more kiss, a bright smile on his face and walked away. Ino quickly made her way to Gaara's side and Gaara looked at her lost in thought.

"He kissed me." Gaara stated quietly and Ino raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah." Gaara seemed more lost at that statement.

"He kissed me 6 times." Gaara continued and Ino looked around and counted the mistletoe.

"Well, there is 6 pieces..." A thought suddenly came to Gaara.

"Wait. He kissed me because of the tiny plant?" Gaara asked and Ino stared at him for a second before breaking out into laughter. "What? What is so funny?"

"Gaara you're so cute though!" Gaara glared at her and she held her stomach, laughing. "It's a Christmas tradition, you silly! I thought you knew that! I thought you were just being super forward, like 'come on Lee, I have mistletoe, let's make out' or something. Oh that is too cute." Gaara's face heated up. If that's what Ino thought, it was probably also what Lee thought. How embarrassing.

***

The last thing to be decorated was the tree. Guy had strung lights on the tree already and all that was left was the candy canes and the decorations. Lee was putting the gaudy looking red bulbs on the tree that were honestly so hideous and Gaara was happy he decided to purchase his own decorations. Next came a different color bulb, silver. The tree looked so depressing with just red on it. The silver brightened it up. Guy put a box down between Lee and Gaara and when Gaara opened it he saw a bunch of really cheesy made decorations. One was a reindeer made from popsicle sticks. There was a handprint one turned into another reindeer, they were all really cute. When Gaara looked on the back he saw Lee's name written on them and a year.

"I made these in school." Lee explained as they hung them. There was a small one, shape of Santa, but the center was a picture of a 4 year old Lee on Santa's lap rocking a braid. Gaara smiled.

"You are very cute, Lee." Gaara commented and hung the picture up towards the top of the tree.

"So are you, Gaara." Lee said with a grin and Ino rolled her eyes.

Each piece from this box had a story behind it and Gaara fell in love with each decoration. But then, he picked up another one. It was a clothes pin painted white and made into a snowman. There was something familiar about it. And Gaara stared at it for a while before the memory came to him. He remembered making something similar in school when he was younger. He remembered giving it to his father and his father snapped it in half and walked away.

Gaara held the clothes pin tightly in his hand and he held it for so long that Lee noticed he stopped decorating the tree. He looked at Gaara and he saw the look of resignation.

"What is wrong?" Lee asked and Gaara frowned deeper.

"I have had a Christmas before. I didn't realize. I didn't remember until now. Do you mind if I take this decoration for my tree?" Lee said it was fine and Gaara was already out of the room and up the stairs. Lee turned to look at Guy and Kakashi who seemed concerned and Ino was staring up where Gaara left from.

"I'll go talk to him." Ino insisted and Lee grabbed her hand before she left.

"I will go too." She frowned but didn't say anything and they walked to Gaara's room. 

His door was opened, he sat on the floor hugging his knees, staring at the tiny tree with the single decoration. They couldn't see his expression but Lee could guess it wasn't a happy one.

"Hi honey." Ino said softly and walked into the room and sat next to him, looking at the tree. "Would you like to talk about it?" Lee sat on Gaara's other side.

"I made decorations like this, I remember them. I never knew what they were for, we were just told give them to our parents. One year I made one like this. I gave it to my father and he broke it in front of me and threw it out. I heard him call someone on the phone. It was my school. He yelled at them for allowing me to waste my time with making it and told them to never do that again. I wasn't allowed to go to art anymore after that." Gaara stayed quiet and Ino hugged him.

"I'm so sorry honey." Ino said soothingly and rubbed his back. Gaara didn't seem like he heard the comment, he just looked at his tree with a pensive expression. 

"What was Christmas like at your house?" Lee couldn't help but ask and Gaara shrugged. "You don't know?"

"Oh, I wasn't allowed in the house." He said simply.

"What... what do you mean? Where did you sleep?" Ino asked with more emotion in it than she intended.

"I slept in a shed outside. It wasn't bad, we lived in the desert so for the most part it was hot, but at nighttime it was cold. I was given a blanket and a pillow though." The way Gaara spoke indicated he had no idea how wrong it was for that to have happened. "I wasn't allowed to take showers often, only when my dad was out of the house. My sister would sneak me in and wash me. No one really talked to me in school since I smelled bad a lot." 

"B-but... why did he do that?" Lee asked with his lower lip trembling.

"I killed my mom." Gaara said emotionlessly. "She died giving birth to me. My dad and my uncle were upset I didn't die instead of her so they just treated me like I didn't matter. I hope it made them feel better." Lee tackled Gaara in a hug on the floor and Ino joined the cuddle session.

"I will make sure you will never be treated that way ever again, I hope you know that, Gaara." Lee vowed and Ino covered his face with kisses.

"You guys don't have to do this. I got over all of it a while ago. It was just a memory that was brought up when I picked this up." He pointed to the ornament.

"If it reminds you of that, why would you like to keep it?" Ino asked, confused.

"To remind myself that even thought mine went unappreciated, there was a child out there that their parents treasured it, like Lee's. I'd like to think I suffered so another kid didn't have to. That's what I told myself, anyway. I'm done thinking about my father, can we do something else?" The immediately complied.

***

"I'm sleeping over. This time, we're sleeping. Got it, Gaara?" Gaara rolled his eyes. "Stop! It was an emotional day and I'm not leaving you."

"It wasn't emotional. I didn't get emotional once." Gaara admitted with a resigned sigh.

"But if you sleep over, I will not be able to keep an eye on Gaara..." Lee protested quietly with a frown.

"Suck it." Ino said simply and Gaara looked at them both.

"I have a twin bed, Ino. How do you plan on sleeping with me?" He asked and Ino hugged him and stuck her tongue out at Lee.

"With a LOT of cuddling." Lee flushed, whether it be from anger or embarrassment, Gaara didn't know.

"That is unfair." Lee crossed his arms and Gaara sighed again. These two were so annoying together.

"Let's just sleep in Lee's bed." Gaara decided and walked up the stairs. Ino had the grace to blush and Lee looked embarrassed but he wasn't going to complain about Gaara sleeping in his bed. He just really hoped Sakura didn't show up to see Ino and Gaara in his bed. He would have a lot of explaining, otherwise.

Gaara dressed in Lee's pajamas and Lee smiled warmly at him. Ino put on Gaara's pajamas and rolled her eyes at Lee. They all climbed in the bed, Lee at the wall, Gaara in the middle and Ino on the outside. 

"Gaara is my snuggle buddy tonight." Ino said easily and Lee's eyes narrowed, as if saying "I'd like to see you try."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help me out! Why don't you tell me a christmas tradition YOU do to help me out with all the characters.
> 
> Also, hope you like Itachi, he's going to be a main character soon~! (Super excited about it. Love Itachi)


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts
> 
> \- (not exactly a date but) a date for Kakashi and Guy. Would be nice to see Kakashi all lovey-dovey and sweet when he thinks that no one besides Guy is around.  
> -Gaara goes with Lee to watch him do his morning training and pretty much just watches Lee's butt the entire time because he has Cake  
> -More Itachi!
> 
> It is Lee's birthday Chapter!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a double length chapter I didn't get to like any prompts lol sorry. This chapter needed what I wrote to move the plot along.
> 
> Rae- I'm glad my chapter was there when you woke from your nap. I wonder if you're this lucky this time around. Thank you for your prompts! Gaara's little tree does have it's own arc and I'll gladly add that to the tree arc lol. And of course there will be ugly christmas sweaters! Thank you for sharing your christmas traditions!  
> urrahara- Yes, and now we'll get plenty of angst in this chapter. huzzah! Thank you!  
> Luna_Lilly- Thank you for your around christmas traditions. I told my husband about the advent calendar (I didn't know what it was) and he explained it and told me it was big in Europe, they have it here in Hungary too! Thank you for your prompt, I hope you liked the Guy/Kakashi moment  
> Halpmehpls7580- Aw thank you! That's fine! you can tell me any tradition you have around then. I don't live in the US anymore either so it's nice to read about other traditions. Like, my husband is from Hungary and they decorate the tree with tiny candies with colorful wrappers and when they eat the wrapper they tie it to the tree. I want Gaara to have as many cultures going on with his first christmas. Oh, and I hope I delivered on the angst.

Chapter Twenty-four

"Hey, Sasuke." Sasuke turned around to face Lee. "Is your brother still doing piano lessons?"

"Yeah, why?" Sasuke asked with a surprisingly passive face for the topic of his brother.

"A while back Gaara mentioned he always wanted to learn the piano so I wanted to get him lessons for Christmas." Sasuke nodded and unzipped the front pocket of his bookbag. He handed Lee a business card.

"Yeah he does it out of the estate instead of the studio. He's trying to get a room renovated there though to be a studio." Lee nodded his thanks and read the card, but once he saw the familiar mop of red hair, he pocketed the card. "What are you going to get Sakura?"

"Um... what?" Sasuke rolled his eyes realizing Lee wasn't paying attention. "Sakura. Your girlfriend. What are you getting her?"

"Oh... I... I am unsure." Lee blushed and scratched the back of his head. Picking something for Gaara was insanely easy, Sakura on the other hand... unfortunately he didn't have the insight on Sakura as he had with Gaara.

"You know, Gaara isn't going to wait forever." Sasuke muttered and closed his locker. "Someone is bound to steal him away from right under your nose."

"Why?" Lee asked, eyebrow raised. "Are you interested?" Sasuke blushed and shook his head.

"No! He isn't my type." Lee grinned. "Don't even say it."

"You are right. He is not your type." Lee teased. "Your type is more blonde."

"Lee, you're an-"

"Hey guys! What did I miss??" Naruto asked loudly and Sasuke winced at the loudness of his voice.

"Jesus, Naruto. Can you learn to be quiet for 3 goddamn seconds?" Sasuke growled and Naruto smacked Sasuke's books to the floor.

"Fuck you, Uchiha. I'll be as loud an annoying as I want!" Lee watched the two bicker and shook his head. He wondered how much they had to fight before they eventually started to date.

***

Gaara sat in the back of the café looking around the kitchen. There was so much to do but no part of him wanted to do anything. It was difficult to inspire himself to do anything right now. Gaara was still depressed, he could feel it in his heart. Nothing seemed to help, especially today. It was harder today. He saw Lee and Sakura a lot walking through the hallway. They weren't even acting like a couple, just the fact that they were together was enough to trigger Gaara's bad mood. Gaara wanted a friend. Not Lee, he couldn't talk to Lee about Lee, not Ino, Gaara could literally murder someone and Ino would take his side (not really a bad thing if Gaara wasn't looking for someone to put things in perspective for him) and he couldn't talk to Kakashi or Guy since they were Lee's parents. What to do?

Gaara was tired, he walked out of the kitchen and stood up front next to Shikamaru. He was sitting on a stool (which when Temari was around, was a strict no-no) playing on his phone. Gaara really didn't care. He started making himself a drink and Shikamaru glanced up noticing the sour look on Gaara's face.

"You miss Ino or something?" He asked flatly and Gaara shook his head but before Shikamaru could question him, Itachi walked in.

Gaara had seen Itachi quite a few times. There was something interesting about him. He was tall, handsome and oddly plain. His dark hair and dark eyes were nothing to brag about, in fact the combination reminded him of Lee which made his heart hurt.

"What's up, Itachi? How ya doin?" Shikamaru asked, still not moving from his seat.

"I can't complain too much." Itachi shrugged and leaned on the counter and looked at Gaara and gave him a smile.

"Hello. I know I've seen you before, I'm Sasuke's older brother." Itachi held out his hand and Gaara shook it, something about Itachi was calming. Maybe it was his tone, his relaxed posture, his calm personality. Gaara didn't know, but suddenly he didn't remember feeling so depressed anymore. He was calm.

"I'm Gaara." Gaara introduced and Itachi smiled softly again.

"It is nice to formally meet you, Gaara." By this point, Shikamaru had already made Itachi's drink, picked up a blueberry muffin and placed it on the counter. Itachi dropped the money on the counter so Shikamaru could get to it when he was able to and looked at the muffin.

"You're the baker here, correct?" Gaara nodded mutely. "You're great at what you do. I love the muffins you make. The raw sugar on top is a nice touch. Perfect for my sweet tooth. I hope you enjoy making them as much as I love to eat them." Gaara doesn't know why he was so awkward around Itachi, nor did he know why he lied, but he tried his best to smile at Itachi and said,

"Oh, making muffins is my favorite."

***

"Guy..." Kakashi's voice was a low warning as he stared at the table that had a huge bouquet of flowers.

"Yes, Rival~?" Guy yelled from a different room.

"You bought me flowers? You know I hate flowers..." Guy walked into the room and gave Kakashi a kiss on the cheek.

"Yes but I bought you winter roses and you hate those the least!" He grinned and Kakashi bit his inner cheek to stop himself from smiling, not wanting to lose the resolve he had on his face. "Aw, come on, you can smile~!"

"No, shut up." Kakashi pushed Guy away and turned his head so he couldn't see the smile he had on his face.

"Are you smiling~?" Guy practically giggled and kept pulling Kakashi closer and was met with a half-hearted fight. Kakashi kept shoving his arms away but Guy was laughing too much. "Aw, rival, do you like me~?"

"Nooo. You're annoying leave me alone." Kakashi protested and Guy finally was able to get Kakashi to look him in the eyes. Kakashi saw the big grin on Guy's face and it only grew when he saw the smile on Kakashi's face and the pinkness of his cheeks. "I think you do like me~" Guy hugged Kakashi tightly. 

"Shut up, we're married. Of course I don't like you." Kakashi said dryly and Guy pushed him to the couch and snuggled up with him.

"You ~love~ me." Kakashi rolled his eyes and let his head rest on Guy's shoulders.

"Thank you for the flowers. I hate them." Guy smiled and kissed Kakashi's cheek.

"Thank you for you. I love you." Kakashi tried really hard to keep himself from smiling, Guy would give him that.

***

"Your friend Gaara is nice." Itachi mentioned as he put down his bag in the living room while Sasuke sat on the couch. "He gave me this for you." He threw a pastry bag at Sasuke and Sasuke ripped it opened.

"We aren't really close friends, but yeah he's nice." Itachi sat down on the couch and stared at Sasuke. "What?"

"He's cute too." Sasuke's face turned bright red.

"What?! No!" Itachi chuckled and ate his muffin.

"What? He is. Adorable, really. Calm, can cook very well. He has family issues, but we all do..." Sasuke shook his head.

"No. I can't date Gaara. End of story." Itachi raised his eyebrow.

"Why not? Is he dating someone?" He asked and Sasuke opened his mouth, then shut it again. "What am I missing?"

"He isn't... dating anyone. But everyone knows him and Lee like each other." Sasuke said with an eye roll.

"... Isn't Lee dating Sakura though?" Sasuke nodded. "Then why should it matter? If he liked Gaara enough he would be dating him." Sasuke sighed.

"You don't have to stress that point to me. I know already. We've been trying to break up Sakura and Lee for over a month." Itachi shrugged.

"Seems weird to me, but okay... Oh, and Sasuke?" Sasuke looked up from eating his own muffin. "You never said you didn't think Gaara was cute." Itachi's grin was wide and Sasuke's face burned. Sasuke threw his shoe at a laughing Itachi.

***

Gaara woke up early the next morning. Sadly, he was in his own bed. Lee got home late last night and so did he so neither of them had time to talk. 

Gaara put on a pair of longjohns and then a pair of gray sweatpants over. It was freezing outside! He pulled on a black turtleneck and a pair of thick socks. He walked to Lee's room and knocked on the door. Lee opened it, half dressed and bright eyed.

"Oh wonderful! Are you coming to the dojo with me?" He asked with the sweetest smile. Gaara nodded and his smile grew. "I am very happy to hear that. Would you like a sweater? I think you will be cold in just your turtleneck." Lee offered and was already getting a sweater from the closet. Gaara put it on with a soft thank you.

Lee watched Gaara put on the sweater. That was his dojo issued sweater. It had the dojo logo on the front and his name on the back. They were very popular during the wintertime. He had that sweater for a few years. It fit Gaara nicely.

"You look very cute, Gaara." Lee said happily, turning to find a shirt.

"Lee..." Gaara started and Lee stopped what he was doing and looked at Gaara.

"Are you okay?" His voice and face oozed concern and Gaara wondered how a person could be so genuine. "Would you like me to do anything?" Gaara had so many things he wanted to say but couldn't find the words. He just stared at Lee, his mouth opened a fraction and his face becoming more and more red. Lee stepped to him and stood close, cupping his cheek. "Do you need to talk?"

Gaara frowned and his brow furrowed together. He felt as though he knew what he wanted to say, but he honestly didn't know how to say it. The closer Lee stood to him, the more complicated the thinking process became. Gaara decided thinking wasn't working so turned off his brain long enough to throw his arms around Lee's neck and pull him close. Their noses touched and Lee's cheeks turned pink.

"Would you like a kiss, Gaara?" Lee asked breathily against Gaara's lips. Gaara gave a tentative nod, his body was shaking. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be doing this.

Lee's lips touched his own and his brain stopped working again. He couldn't think of how kissing Lee was a bad idea in any way. Just having Lee in front of him with his lips touching Gaara's was enough to stop all reasonable thinking. 

Gaara's hands let go of Lee's neck and he lazily ran them down Lee's torso. Lee made a shuttering moan against Gaara's lips and pushed him against the wall and held Gaara in place by putting his hands on his hips.

"Lee." The sharp inhale of his name falling from Gaara's lips made Lee whimper. Lee wasn't sure how wound up Gaara would be able to make him in under 30 seconds, but Gaara surprised even him sometimes. Lee pushed himself away, breathing heavily. He looked at Gaara, lips wet with saliva, cheeks pink, eyes hazed over with a lustful look. It was almost déjà vu. He felt like he saw that exact look on Gaara before but didn't remember when.

"I-I am sorry. I got... carried away." Lee said, clearly embarrassed. He was shifting a lot on his feet, feeling his body react to Gaara in every way possible. Gaara swallowed up all of his nervousness and took a step closer to Lee and looked at him dead in the eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Lee." He whispered and Lee stared at him with half lidded eyes and before they knew it, they were kissing again.

Gaara bit Lee's lower lip and Lee made a noise of surprise and Gaara slid his tongue into Lee's mouth. Gaara read this was a popular method of kissing, and wasn't sure why. It just felt... wet. He had to admit, the thought of kissing Lee in such a lewd way did have some effect on him. Gaara didn't expect the feeling of Lee biting his own lip and he gasped and it turned into a shuttering moan. The noise left Lee whining against his lips.

"I-I do not know... What I will do if we do not stop... but we better stop." Lee was trembling and Gaara nodded and gave him one last tiny kiss.

***

At the beginning of Lee's training, he explained to Gaara what each warm up or exercise was for, but towards the end he was just doing so many of one thing it wasn't worth explaining. On a good note, while Gaara thought burpees were the devil, Lee looked damn good doing them.

Early on, Lee asked if Gaara wanted to go through some warm ups with him but Gaara declined. Now that he saw the entire routine, he was glad he did. With all those squats, Gaara wasn't surprised Lee had such a nice butt, still it seemed like a lot and Gaara didn't believe he would be alive at the end. Lee was also very adamant about his training so Gaara didn't think he would take it easy on him. Gaara didn't think that was a bad thing though and thought about how Lee would be as his trainer.

***

Driving to school was nice. The car was super warm, Lee had music on playing quiet enough that it didn't distract him from his thoughts but loud enough that he could tell something was playing and it wasn't white noise.

It was raining outside, which sucked because Gaara was under the impression that in December it snowed all the time. Gaara never saw snow, living in the desert and all.

It was such cuddle weather that Gaara was sad he had school that day. Lee wasn't in any of his classes. He had Naruto in one single class and Ino in one class. His days at school sucked. Especially because all he did was see Lee and Sakura in the hallway.

Gaara began overthinking everything while he stared at Lee from his peripherals. With Lee kissing him like that... did he kiss Sakura like that? Did he lose control when Sakura asked for a kiss? Did he lust after her? The questions made Gaara's heart thud angrily in his chest. Why was Lee still with Sakura? Why did Lee kiss him when he was with Sakura? What was the best way to approach the situation? 

"Gaara, are you alright?" Damn, Lee's voice was always so sweet and calming it was hard to imagine he'd done anything wrong.

"Just thinking of what I got for your birthday." Gaara lied simply and Lee grinned at him.

"You did not have to get me anything. Being with you is enough." He admitted and Gaara was really bitter and wanted to mumble an 'but you aren't with me, are you?' but it was Lee's birthday and he didn't want him to feel bad on his birthday.

Instead, Gaara let Lee hold his hand through the car ride to school.

***

Lee was showered in gifts when his friends showed up. Sakura gave him a present, Naruto, Sasuke, even people Gaara didn't know. He didn't realize Lee had more than 4 friends. 

Gaara was right next to Lee when Sakura hugged him tightly and with her flirtiest face said 'you should come over after school.' The sight made him sick. He turned around and faced Sasuke and honestly, Sasuke was looking at him weird today. He didn't know why or how. It was just different. He decided to talk to Sasuke because anything was better than watching this display in front of him.

"Kakashi, Guy and I were planning on throwing Lee a small party later with cake and gifts. Would you like to come?" Sasuke nodded, always wanting to go wherever Gaara made food.

"Just cake, or regular food too? Asking for a friend." Gaara smirked at him.

"I will be cooking dinner too." Sasuke tried his best not to look excited. "You can invite your brother too if you'd like." Gaara shouldn't have been that excited at the prospect of Itachi coming over but he was.

***

Lee said he was going to spend some time with Sakura after school but he would be back around 5pm which was fine, it gave Gaara time to cook and get everything ready. 

He was at the café putting the finishing touches on the cake. It was a two tiered cake with a fondant black belt wrapped around the middle with Happy Birthday Lee written on top with a tiny fondant Lee doing a kick. The sides of the bigger half of the cake were tiny painted martial arts poses. Gaara spent most of his day yesterday making this cake. It was stressful but finally, it was perfect.

Ino volunteered to help him bring it to the house which was good because she had a big car so he was able to sit in the back with it to make sure it didn't fall over. He realized now he should've assembled the two layers when he got to the house but whatever.

Kakashi and Guy fawned over the cake and how beautiful it was. Guy took several hundred pictures after Gaara put it down on the table and Kakashi insisted Gaara took a picture next to the cake. Even though it was embarrassing, Gaara felt nice having them make a big deal over something he did. No one praised him like Kakashi and Guy.

After that, Gaara began cooking. It was going to be rough cooking for that many people in such a limited time, but Gaara didn't mind, he liked being in the kitchen. Most people thought if someone could bake they couldn't cook and vice versa. While it was true that both of the arts required different uses in the brain, it was still enjoyable for multiple people. Baking was more of a science and Culinary was more of an art.

Naruto showed up first, apologizing for Jiraiya's lack of appearance but he had a deadline to reach. He sent a gift in his wake. Kakashi decided it was best if he opened it first, just because Lee was turning 18 didn't mean he should get presents from Jiraiya. Kakashi could shudder at the thought of what it could be.

Sasuke and Itachi were next to show up and Itachi complimented Gaara's cake and Gaara smiled at him.

"You have a nice smile. You should smile more, Gaara." He noted and Gaara shook his head, looking away embarrassed. Right now, most of everyone was in the living room and it was just Gaara and Itachi in the kitchen. The table was set up for everyone already and Kakashi didn't want to get in Gaara's way and he dragged out Guy because Guy was more likely to get in Gaara's way. Itachi though, could tell where Gaara needed to go so stealthily moved when he noticed Gaara needed him to.

"Why are you making two things?" Itachi asked and Gaara smiled at him again.

"Lee likes things way too spicy so I didn't want to kill everyone else. I decided to make Lee a smaller pot of what I was making and add more spice." He admitted and Itachi was intrigued. 

"Would you mind if I tried it?" Gaara smirked at the question, Itachi clearly didn't know how spicy Lee liked his food but provided Itachi with a spoon all the same. Itachi noticed the devious smirk on Gaara's face and was a little apprehensive, but a 16 year old wasn't going to stop him from trying food.

It should've.

Itachi's face turned bright red instantly and Gaara already had a glass of milk prepared. Itachi downed the whole thing and he was still crying.

"I told you. Lee is insane." Gaara said with a chuckle and Itachi was laughing and crying at the same time.

"Wow. Oh shit this is still burning." Gaara handed him a napkin and Itachi wasn't sure if he should wipe his tongue with it or his tears. Gaara couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Itachi, a 25 year old man, sitting on the kitchen floor crying and wiping his tongue with a napkin. It was so pitiful. Gaara didn't think he ever laughed that hard.

That's how Kakashi and Sasuke found the two, a few minutes later. Itachi on the floor crying into a napkin and Gaara laughing so hard he had tears on his cheeks.

"What the fuck." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Sasuke, watch your language." Kakashi scolded, then looked back at the display. "What the fuck."

"He... tried... Lee's..." Gaara was completely red in the face and it was hard to breathe but Kakashi got the gist of it and laughed at Itachi's expense. It took a minute for Sasuke, but once he looked at the stove, he remembered when Lee told him Gaara made their dinners separately so that he could have his food spicy. 

Poor Itachi.

***

Gaara and Itachi sat outside in the cold air after Gaara stopped laughing, which took a while. Itachi was overheating from the spice and Gaara was overheating from standing in such a small kitchen with everything going on around them.

"You shouldn't laugh at your elders like that, you know." Itachi mumbled a few minutes later and gave a fake glare to Gaara who lazily smiled at him. He was honestly so tired from waking up early, he had no sense of anything right now.

"You're not even 30 yet, right?" Itachi raised his eyebrow.

"So 30 is your old people cut off? Good to know. I'll keep that in mind." Gaara rolled his eyes. "I'm 25 if you wanted to know." Gaara nodded again.

"What is it like being 25 and an adult?" Itachi sighed and laid back on his chair.

"Same thing it was like being 16, only you try to pretend you know what you're doing and you have better skin." Gaara snorted. "Unless being 16 changed since I was 16."

"I'm almost 17 so I don't know." Itachi scoffed.

"Yeah I'm sorry I offended you. You're so mature." Gaara glared at Itachi but there was no heat to it. "Let me say one thing though, I could not even bake a boxed cake at 16 so you making that cake for Lee was really impressive. You really do know what you're doing. Do you know if that's what you want to go to school for?"

"No. Why would I want to go to school for something I can already do? Anyway, I don't think I'm going to college." Itachi sat up a bit.

"Why not?" Gaara shrugged.

"No money. Plus, I already have a job. I can just stay there and work and get money so I can live instead of wasting it on school that I might not even need. Especially if I stay with baking. There's a lot of debt for culinary and only few places to make it worth your while. I don't want to go to the city so therefore I am not making a lot of money." Itachi was impressed by Gaara's insight. "Anyway, I have to go check on the food and make sure no other brave soul tried Lee's food."

"I'll come with you."

***

Dinner had been done for an hour and Lee still wasn't home. It was 625 and Lee said he'd be home at the latest of 515. Kakashi called him more times than he could count, and Guy was very upset at his son's discourtesy of not even answering the damn phone.

Gaara just served dinner so no one went hungry and when they were done, Gaara did all the dishes quietly. He was angry. He was embarrassed (even though he wasn't sure what about), and he was hurt. What was more important than coming back to the person you said you were in love with? Gaara sent a few text messages but they all remained unseen. Angry and sad tears stung his eyes and he jumped when he saw Itachi leaning on the counter next to him.

"Boys are dumb." Itachi said and Gaara just nodded meekly. "Don't put anyone first that doesn't put you first. You have to be the example of how you want to be treated." Gaara looked at Itachi confused but Itachi's face remained the same. "I'm saying no boy is worth getting upset over. You'll find someone who puts you first. Give it time." He patted Gaara's back and left the kitchen. Ino walked over shortly after.

"Did Sasuke's super hot brother just hit on you?" She asked, trying to bring Gaara out of his funk of being abandoned.

"No." He said flatly and Ino frowned and eyed Itachi.

"But do you agree?" She asked and Gaara glared at her.

"Agree with what?" She smirked at him.

"That he's super hot?" Gaara's face heated up and he rolled his eyes.

"He is handsome." Hot would imply that Gaara wanted to sleep with him and he doesn't. That's something Ino didn't know yet, that Gaara wasn't gay. He didn't feel like explaining demisexuality to her just yet.

"I know right?" She gushed and looked at him again.

"Ino, he's 25, he isn't going to date an 18 year old." Ino stuck out her tongue.

"I can dream, don't ruin it." Gaara rolled his eyes and Ino turned her attention back to Gaara. "Hey, I'm just trying to make you laugh. I'm super pissed at Lee. Do you want me to punch him in the face? I will, honey. Just give me the word."

"I know you will..." Gaara said with a slight note of resignation in his voice.

"Let me do the dishes, you should relax. You've done so much for him today you need some time for you." Ino insisted and Gaara shook his head.

"No. I'd like to be right in his line of sight when he walks in the door to see his expression when he tells me why he's so late. I asked him when he would be home and I told him I had a surprise for him. He knew all of this and he still didn't show up. Why does that matter to me? It shouldn't. I'm not his boyfriend. Just the guy he makes out with randomly. I don't need any validation. I'm just like a slut. All I'm doing is singlehandedly ruining a relationship." Ino's eyes widened and she turned off the water and turned Gaara around so he was facing her. Her eyes were deadly.

"Don't you dare say that. Just because Lee is too stupid to see you're better than Sakura in every conceivable way doesn't mean that you aren't better than her in every conceivable way. It means Lee is the dumbest fucking person I've ever met. He doesn't deserve you. You're too good for him, honey. Don't let him do this to you. You're not even a slut, shut up you virgin. Have you even seen a penis before? I mean, besides your own?" Gaara turned red but shook his head slowly. "So there you go. And you aren't ruining Lee's relationship on your own. Lee had to have let you in somehow. Don't even think like that. I'm going to kick his ass when he gets him, I don't care if he's the birthday boy." Ino ranted and they heard a door slam outside and paused. Gaara rubbed his eyes quickly. Him and Ino were the only ones in the kitchen right now so they were the only ones with direct sight to the front door. They heard slow stomps up the porch steps and they heard the door open. 

Kakashi and Guy were in the kitchen right as the door swung opened and everyone stared at Lee.

Only he didn't look right.

His hair was a mess, so were his clothes. His face was bright red, mainly down his cheeks and nose. He looked... destroyed. He had tears running down his face but he didn't make a single sound. He closed the door behind him and took a step into the kitchen, finally realizing he had an audience. He looked around at the lengthened table; he saw the food on the stove, the people in the living room who apparently hadn't heard him come in. He saw the beautiful cake on the counter that must've taken Gaara forever to make. He saw the look of surprise on his parent's faces, the look of confusion on Ino's and finally he looked at Gaara.

He loved Gaara so much it hurt. His body ached thinking about everything that happened today and he felt so much guilt he could barely breathe and there stood Gaara looking just as hurt as he felt and he didn't know what to do.

"Lee... are you..." Kakashi didn't finish the sentence, he saw something in Lee's eyes and understood. He didn't like it, but he understood. 

Lee looked at Gaara again. He walked over and stood in front of him for a minute, more tears ran down his face and he gave Gaara a hug. The hug seemed to last forever and at the same time, the shortest hug they ever had. Lee pulled away, giving Gaara one last glance with empty eyes. He walked to the stairs and Gaara heard him softly make it to his bedroom door and heard the door close with a quiet click. 

What happened to Lee?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay my lovelies, what do you think is wrong with Lee? (You won't find out for another few chapters but it would be cool to see if I wrote it in a way you'd get it!)
> 
> Reminder that the 100th commenter gets a oneshot of their choosing! (Holy shit we're almost there!) and his story will probably be still going on so I'll probably do it for the 150th and 200th and so on. Like I said, this story is far from over.
> 
> Let me know about the characters you liked this chapter and if you enjoyed Itachi!


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No prompts this chapter. Pushing the plot along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : *smiles*  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Thank you! And I kind of used your tradition in this chapter. I hope you like it. Like I told my husband, this story is going to take a while to be done, so they're going to be friends-lovers and everything inbetween!  
>  **QuinceJaphet** : A new commenter! Thank you for taking your time to leave a comment! I'm glad you look forward to it. Sometimes writing it is the best part of my day! I can't wait for your reaction to me writing these special boys and all their friends.  
>  **Jenkka** : Another new commenter! Thank you! Don't worry, it'll go on for quite a bit. You'll probably ask yourself "is this story done yet" and it'll be like 200k and I'll be like "neverrrr"  
>  **Rae** :I DID REALLY DO THAT. YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN YET. WAIT TILL THE ChRiStMaS pArTy! You'll get more drama whiplash soon, don't worry, boo. Eventually Sasuke will snap that he likes Naruto. Not yet. He isn't to that annoyance level yet. I would have Kakashi and Guy gossip, but for the sake of hiding the plot, they will not be doing so on screen.  
>  **uurahara** : Don't worry! Eventually everything will turn out okay!... Eventually :) Thank you!
> 
> Someone did guess correctly as to what happened with Lee. You'll find out soon enough! (Probably in 2 chapters, maybe one. The ChRiStMaS pArTy chapter! [aka when everyone learns they hate me.])
> 
> I talk to my husband about my plans and at this point he isn't even shipping Gaara and Lee. (He knows things that happen 2 years from now in the fic so...) I won't tell you who he's shipping. You can guess if you'd like ;)

Chapter Twenty-five

For the next few days, it was tense in the house. Gaara was rarely home, always at work. Honestly, he was getting away from Lee. Since Lee's birthday, there was no apology. There was barely any words and certainly no explanation. Lee usually tried to kiss Gaara at least once a day, Lee hadn't been near him since his birthday. It hurt.

For the time being, Gaara listened to Itachi's advice and just ignored everything. If Lee didn't want to open up, he wouldn't. Plus, Gaara was still upset with how everything went down and he didn't want to give that up just yet. He had a right to be upset.

Ino promised she would be at the café more since the nursery was shutting down for winter, but right now they had a lot to do so for the most part, Gaara was by himself. He didn't mind, it reminded him of before. Before wasn't so bad, was it?

When Gaara got home that night, December 1st, he was met with the beautiful sight of his home. Kakashi and Guy had spent all day decorating the outside of the house it looked like. Gaara wondered if Lee had helped or not.

He walked inside and everyone was sitting at the table. Lee was sitting in his usual chair against the wall, idly poking his dinner, his somber expression hadn't changed at all. Kakashi and Guy had finished their dinner, now just drinking tea and talking quietly.

"Gaara! Hello! Your dinner is in the microwave." Gaara nodded his thanks and took off his shoes and hung his jacket up on the coatrack. He grabbed his plate and joined them at the table, being made fun of by Kakashi for still wearing his chef jacket.

"It's a lot warmer than not wearing it. It's cold outside." Kakashi noticed how red Gaara's face and fingers were.

"Did you walk home?" Kakashi asked and Gaara nodded slowly. "Why the hell didn't you call one of us?"

"I... didn't want to bother anyone." Gaara looked down at his food, and for the first time in days, saw Lee actually pay him mind.

"You would never bother us, Gaara." He said quietly. Gaara pursed his lips, stood up, picking up his plate and putting it back in the microwave.

"I'm actually not hungry right now. Thank you." Gaara grabbed his bag and quickly went up the stairs leaving Kakashi and Guy frowning and Lee looking guilty again.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually." Kakashi said and Lee nodded numbly.

***

When Gaara walked into his room, he saw lights draped across his ceiling. The lights were designed to look like icicles and they lit up slowly. Placed evenly through the string of lights were envelopes with numbers on them hung with a wooden clothing pin. Gaara looked at everything in wonder, it was beautiful. He turned his head when he felt someone else in the room with him. It was Lee.

"Did you do this?" Gaara asked quietly and Lee nodded. "What is it, exactly."

"It is my rendition of an advent calendar. I do not know how to build very well so I decided this was best. I hope you like it. You are supposed to open the envelope with the day's number. Today you open one, all the way up to 24, Christmas Eve." Lee explained quietly and Gaara slowly walked to number one and lightly yanked it off of the clothing pin. He eyed Lee as he opened the envelope and inside was a piece of paper, a picture and a tiny piece of chocolate. Gaara pulled everything out and he stared at the picture first. It was a picture of him and Lee at the apple orchard the first day they hung out. Lee was grinning and Gaara had a donut in his mouth.

The small note said 'When we spent time together this day, I hoped you would be important in my life. I am glad you are.' Gaara looked back up at Lee. He was smiling, but weakly. Gaara really wished he knew what was wrong with him.

"Thank you, Lee. I didn't know or else I would've done one for you too." Lee shook his head with a wry smile.

"I do not deserve one, but thank you." Lee left Gaara alone in his room and Gaara just stared at each envelope and thought to himself, who else would love him this much?

***

At about 12am, Gaara realized he couldn't sleep. He actually realized it a while ago, but it was just now getting annoying. Considering it was a weekend, he should be able to sleep as much as he wanted but he was too upset. He decided he needed Lee.

Gaara climbed out of his bed and walked to Lee's door. He didn't knock, just opened it slowly and was surprised to see Lee sitting up on his bed scrolling on his phone. Lee looked up, startled at the sudden movement and confused to see Gaara.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lee asked quietly and Gaara walked in, closed the door behind him and walked to Lee's bed.

"Can..." Gaara bit his lip and looked down at his hands as he held onto Lee's bed like a lifeline. "Can we pretend to be ok? I miss you." Lee dropped the phone so quickly and pulled Gaara to his chest.

"Of course, Gaara. I miss you too." Lee started crying almost instantly. "I miss you so much."

"Then why are you ignoring me?" The sound of Gaara's broken voice made Lee hiccup on his tears and he kissed Gaara's hair multiple times.

"I do not deserve you, Gaara. You are too good. You are so perfect and I want you to be happy and I cannot do that and I am sorry." Gaara had so many questions but he was just so tired right now. Emotionally and physically drained.

"Lee, can we pretend its fine? That we don't have any problems?" Lee nodded, but tears were still running down his face. "Then just hold me, ok?" Lee nodded again, his heart aching and he pulled Gaara so close to him.

"I love you Gaara." Lee said through his tears. "I love you, I love you, I love you." Lee kissed Gaara's head again and again and again. 

Gaara and Lee fell asleep and slept well for the first time in a week.

***

The following week, Lee and Gaara pretended everything was fine. Gaara didn't ask Lee why he was so upset, Lee didn't tell him. They both wanted to ignore everything and pretend it was just fine. 

Lee was too excited to wait until Christmas, so he decided he would celebrate on the 6th of December, which he learned was the night Santa Claus visited other countries, mainly ones in Europe. 

When Gaara opened the envelope for December 6th, he was greeted with something different than he was used to. There wasn't a picture or a note from Lee, nor was there chocolate. When he unfolded the paper and his eyes skimmed through it, he realized Lee had bought him piano lessons. His eyes widened and he read the paper for the second time, then third. 

When Gaara was younger, his sister Temari was taught piano. An instructor would come over three times a week and Temari would throw a fit. The younger Gaara would wait for the instructor to come to sit by the steps at the back of the house and try to listen. He always wanted to learn piano but his father wouldn't let him. He tried to listen as best as he could to Temari's lessons though. It was hard through a door.

When the instructor left, Gaara would rush back to his shed and pretend he was playing a marvelous looking piano for a huge theatre full of people and they would clap and cheer for him. It was always something he smiled most about as a child. It didn't matter that he didn't actually learn, for a time, his imagination was enough.

Gaara's eyes watered when he read it a fourth time and he covered his mouth with his hand. He sat down on his bed and read it a fifth time. Lee was standing at the doorway and didn't know how to respond.

"Are you okay?" He asked and Gaara nodded and Lee saw his eyes skim the paper again. "Did I do okay?" Gaara nodded again.

Finally, Gaara put the paper down on his bed and hugged Lee tightly. He wondered if he would ever tell Lee exactly why the piano lessons made him so happy.

***

Gaara looked at his tree with pride. He decorated it to the best of his artistic abilities. He tied small colorful pieces of candy on the branches in random places, this was a popular tradition in some countries. He also took clothes pins and carved names into them, names of people who meant a lot to him.

The clothes pins were decorated with buttons, colors and anything else colorful Gaara could get his hands on. He believed he finally got everyone on the tree.

He had Temari, Kankuro, Kakashi, Guy, Lee and Ino. He smiled at the tree, feeling thankful for the people closest in his life.

***

For Gaara's first piano lesson, Lee drove him. Gaara wasn't aware that he would be driven to the Uchiha estate. He looked around at the beautiful gardens and looked in awe at the large house. 

"W...who is my instructor?" He asked and Lee raised an eyebrow then smiled.

"Oh I am sorry, I thought I told you already. It is Itachi." Gaara's face heated up and he nodded, Lee looked at him curiously but didn't say anything.

Lee opened the door without a knock and Gaara awkwardly stood in the foyer and Lee grabbed his arm and dragged him along. Sasuke was sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen eating peanuts when he noticed Lee.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" He asked and Lee smiled.

"Gaara is here for his piano lessons." Gaara blushed again and Lee couldn't help but think Gaara was the cutest, most pure human he ever saw. "Where is Itachi?" Sasuke shrugged.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled and Lee winced. Gaara was too occupied staring at the house in mild awe. 

Itachi walked into the room and Gaara's eyes quickly met his. Itachi was wearing glasses, which was something Gaara only saw once, he actually forgot Itachi had glasses. His hair was down for once and he was wearing a simple dark purple sweater and black pants. He smiled.

"Hello. Nice to see you again, Gaara. Are you ready for your lessons?" Gaara nodded but kept his mouth firmly shut. He wished he could take a picture and send it to Ino. She would probably die.

***

"Wait wait wait!" Ino said quickly and extremely excitedly. "Glasses, hair down? Oh my god, how hot was he? Please tell me you took a picture?"

"Well, interestingly enough, I did not, Lee did. He decided he needed a picture of Itachi and I commemorating my first piano lesson. Hold on I'll send it to you." Ino shrieked happily and Gaara sent the message.

"Jesus, mother of god! Gaara! You have the world's hottest teacher. I am so jealous. Do you think I could get some piano lessons too??" Gaara smirked and rolled his eyes.

"You could try. I think he actually wants to teach piano though, not be ogled by an 18 year old girl." Gaara teased.

"And what? Being ogled by a 16 year old boy is just fine?" Gaara frowned.

"I'm going to be 17 in a month." Ino laughed. "Stop making fun of me. Just because you're old enough to join the war and I'm not."

"Gaara, shut up and never change. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to change my wallpaper..." 

"But you and I were your wallpaper." Gaara protested and Ino giggled.

"Well now it's you and Itachi."

"I hate you."

***

Gaara sat at his desk with his exacto-knife carving another clothes pin. This one wasn't as flashy as the others, in fact, it was on a smaller pin, but there was something telling him no matter the size of the pin, this would be an important person in his life. He didn't know how he knew, he just did.

He spent a while getting the curves in the name just right, he liked writing everything in cursive, even if it was harder to do. He blew the wooden shavings out of the way and brushed it off with his hand. It looked perfect. Gaara grabbed a small paintbrush and dipped it in his purple paint and traced the groove of the name in the wood. When he was done he let it dry, then with another layer of a paint to make the wood shinier, he coated it and let it dry again.

He walked to his tree, sat down and looked at the placement for everyone. He had Lee almost at the top, Ino around the same height, Kakashi slightly lower, then Guy, then Temari then Kankuro. He rubbed his thumb over all of the names with a content sigh. These people meant the world to him.

Gaara grabbed a branch towards the bottom of the tree and pinned the final name and with a satisfied nod, he left to take a shower.

Lee walked into his room shortly after to put a decoration he made Gaara on the side of the tree (so Gaara could place it how he wanted it.) It was kind of childish looking but it was something he made with his scrapbooking equipment. A family picture they took a few days ago. Gaara, Kakashi, Guy and Lee, all wearing silly Santa hats. Lee smiled at the picture and placed it down and looked over Gaara's tree. He grinned at his name on the tree and let his fingers run over the smooth surface. 

Lee looked at all the other names until he noticed there was another name. It looked freshly done so Lee didn't want to grab it. He lowered himself to the floor to get a closer look at it. The strange thing was, seeing that name made his stomach feel funny. Why? 

In purple script at the bottom of the tree was _Itachi._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 91 reviews! So next chapter or the chapter after will have the winner of the oneshot! If you don't get it, don't feel discouraged! This story is hella long and you can probably get it next time! After every 50 reviews starting at 100.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE ChRiStMaS pArTy™!
> 
> All aboard the feel train! You're going to wish you were dead.
> 
> Prompt:  
> -Lee and Gaara go to a Christmas Festival! (This is my husband's prompt and he's very proud I used it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Itachi is hot AF I love him. This story will have a lot happen so maybe~.  
>  **Rae** : GREAT SCOTT, I THINK I'VE DONE IT AGAIN. Come back when the chapter is done and tell me if you still love me.  
>  **Luna-Lilly** : Hah. Hahahahahahahahahaha.  
>  **uurahara** : Yasss we will see JEALOUS!Lee again. And yes, a very bumpy ride indeed. I hope you are well prepared.
> 
>  **Notes** : My husband feels bad for y'all.  
> And three more reviews, so I will probably wake up tomorrow and there will be the winner. So that's exciting. I UPDATED TWICE TODAY. HOLLA. THAT MEANS I WROTE 18 FUCKING PAGES TODAY. EYYYY

Chapter Twenty-Six:

It didn't matter what time piano lessons started, Itachi and Gaara had the same routine. Gaara would show up with Lee, Lee would hang out with Sasuke (sometimes Naruto would show up, other times Naruto would be pissed he wasn't invited), they would all sit in the kitchen and eat the pastries Gaara brought (Sasuke and Itachi always fought over the last s'mores muffin. Gaara knew this and continued to only bring one. His response was that Itachi's favorite muffin was blueberry and Sasuke's was chocolate-chocolate chip so they should split it. They rarely did). Then Gaara and Itachi would go into the piano room, easily Gaara's favorite room. They would sit on the couch together while drinking coffee and Itachi would show him music sheets and teach him various symbols and music note meanings.

Once they were done with their coffee, Itachi would bring them over to the piano and teach Gaara which key was which note. Gaara for the most part would absorb the information like a sponge, but sometimes he had difficulty remembering certain things. Itachi was always calm so if Gaara made a mistake, there would only be a gentle reminder. 

Feeling the keys of the piano under his fingertips made him smile each time. Gaara thought about the piano at his old house, it was old and worn, this one was new, shiny and smooth. The piano was gorgeous.

Itachi and Gaara would sit on the piano bench together for well over an hour even though the lessons were only an hour long. There was something about teaching someone who really wanted to learn that made Itachi forget about time restraints. Itachi couldn't count how many times he was given a child to learn piano that honestly wanted to do nothing more than not to learn piano. This was refreshing.

Itachi was ashamed it took him this long to realize, after all, he had taught Gaara 5 piano lessons already, he should've caught on sooner. Gaara didn't really know how to read music as much as he appeared to. Gaara had an interesting talent. It was really hard for him to read music, but when he saw Itachi play, he could mimic it nearly perfectly. It was also interesting when he was playing the piano when Itachi wasn't in the room. He would listen to music on his phone and it would take him a bit of testing, but he picked the tune from the song and within minutes could figure out how to play it on piano without the music.

He biggest thought Itachi had was would it be a waste of time to teach Gaara sheet music when he could figure out how to play anything without it?

The next time they had a lesson, Itachi sat Gaara down and handed him music and had him tell Itachi each note on the paper. He even gave Gaara a pen so once he figured it out, he could write the letter next to the note. Teaching Gaara was a lot different from any other student that was for sure.

***

"I'm amazed." Sasuke said after a solid 15 minutes of watching TV next to Itachi and Itachi not once speaking.

"What?" Itachi asked as he nibbled on one of the leftover pastries. Gaara was going to make him fat, he knew it.

"It's been 15 whole minutes and 20 since Gaara left and not once have you tried to hook us up. You're growing." Itachi smirked at him. 

"I realized it was futile, considering you have N-n-naruto to fawn over." Itachi laughed and Sasuke's face brightened and he chucked a pillow at him.

"I did not stutter like that!" Sasuke yelled and Itachi tossed the pillow back, giving Sasuke a smirk and raised his eyebrow. "I didn't!"

"Yeah okay S-s-sasuke." 

Itachi was teasing Sasuke for coming downstairs earlier without a shirt on and in bright orange pajama pants. When he came downstairs, Itachi, Lee, and Naruto were all sitting on the couch talking while Gaara was in the bathroom. Out of everyone on the couch, Sasuke stuttered out Naruto's name and ran away. Naruto looked completely confused and Itachi and Lee just laughed. When Gaara walked in, he was very upset to have missed the spectacle. 

"You're a dick and I hate you." Itachi kissed in the direction of Sasuke and Sasuke pouted.

***

The final week of school before Christmas was fun. One day was Ugly Christmas Sweater Day and the team dressed the hell up for that. 

Everyone had the job to pick out someone elses ugly Christmas sweater so opening them up in the cafeteria when everyone got to school was a spectacle. Gaara opened his up and it was a red eyed gingerbread cookie saying "Let's get Baked!" (Being a sweet sweet dear child he did not get the reference since he was a sheltered child and didn't know much about slang. No one could convince him it wasn't funny because the gingerbread man was trying to kill himself but saying they would imbibe in illegal sustenance.) Ino picked hers up and kicked Gaara with a laugh. It said "Kiss Me Under The Mistletoe" and had an arrow pointing down.

"You ass, now I have to cover that arrow up, they'll never let me wear this without dress coding me." Gaara just stuck his tongue out.

Lee's sweater said "Gingas!" and they were ninja gingerbread men. Naruto's was Santa on a toilet and he laughed for about 3 minutes straight. Sasuke was not happy even a little bit and turned bright red before showing his sweater to the group. It said "FRUITCAKE" with a picture of a fruitcake. Naruto fell over laughing again and probably peed himself in the process. Sakura's said "Drink up GRINCHES it's Christmas!" With wine glasses all over it. 

Overall everyone was pretty happy with their sweater. 

Except Sasuke.

***

"Yearbook!" Someone shouted and Lee turned around surprised. "Pose for the yearbook." For whatever reason, Lee could not understand, even if you ask him a thousand times what he was thinking in that moment, he still would not be able to know why instead of posing with his girlfriend, he wrapped his arms around Gaara like they were taking a prom photo. 

Everyone else just went with it. Naruto decided to pose with Sakura and Ino posed as the man with Sasuke. Sasuke glowered but everyone was smiling. Gaara's face was red and he really hoped they didn't put this in the yearbook.

"Thanks for being my prom date." Lee laughed awkwardly and Gaara nodded, still blushing. Ino grabbed Gaara's hand and they waved at the group and left.

"Don't tell me you're still getting all giggly over Lee when you have Hotty Mc.Studmuffin as your teacher, I will literally not allow it." Gaara frowned and leaned his head on his locker.

"I can't help it. I love him." Ino sighed sadly and nodded.

"I know... But this is high school and boys are dumb so you should get with a man." Ino winked and Gaara looked at her like she had 6 heads.

"Ino, Itachi is 9 years older than me. I'm only 16." She gave him a look and laughed.

"Oh so now you're only 16 but when it suits you it's 'I'm almost 17'. Shut up. Plus, the age of consent is 17, so..." Gaara rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that bull. You love me."

"Why are you trying to hook me up with Itachi? Don't you have the biggest crush on him." Ino shrugged.

"I'd rather see you happy." The statement sobered Gaara briefly and he looked at Ino and she smiled. "Oh shut up. I'm not sappy. I just love you."

At the end of the day there was an award for funniest ugly Christmas sweater.

The yearbook now had a picture of a very annoyed Sasuke Uchiha holding a trophy.

***

Ino and Gaara were in the kitchen rolling out gingerbread dough. They wanted to make a really intricate gingerbread house and decided they hated themselves enough to do it on a school night. 

Temari walked into the kitchen and sat on the stool on a far wall and watched them until Gaara turned his head briefly and gave her his attention.

"Are you busy on Christmas?" She asked and he nodded and started cutting walls out for the house.

"Yeah. For a bit. Sasuke and Itachi are throwing a Christmas party and Ino and I were invited. Why?" Temari frowned.

"Well, Itachi invited me too, so I'll be there for a bit. I just wanted to give you your gift on Christmas and I know you don't want to see dad at all." Gaara nodded stiffly. "I miss you. I barely see you anymore."

"Did I tell you what Lee did for me?" Gaara asked suddenly. "He got me piano lessons." Temari understood the statement and smiled weakly.

"I'm happy for you. I know how much you wanted them." Gaara nodded.

"Nothing against you, Temari. I love you. I just have more in my life now than... this. I'll try to spend more time with you though." Temari nodded and walked over and kissed Gaara's temple and left the kitchen. Ino raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you tell her about how hot your teacher is." Gaara gave her a look.

"She knows what Itachi looks like, he's a regular here." Ino's mouth opened.

"You're saying he's here every day and I never see him? How the fuck is that fair?" Gaara rolled his eyes at her and she threw a chunk of gingerbread at him.

***

Two days later when Ino and Gaara were still working on the gingerbread house, Kankuro walked in and his eyes widened.

"Holy fuck, you guys. What the hell?" Gaara stopped piping snow on the roofs and looked at the large gingerbread castle.

"Whoops..." He said in a monotone. "My hand slipped and we made Hogwarts." Ino sat on a stool with a tiny carving blade. She was making the small details.

"I'm making Harry Potter!" She said happily.

"Did you make Draco?" Gaara asked and she held him up.

"Duh, I made him first. HashtagDrarry." Gaara raised his brow.

"Did you just say... hashtag?" Ino ignored him and he rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Don't forget Snape. He's my favorite." Ino snorted.

"Doesn't surprise me you emo little bitch..." She mumbled and Gaara elected to ignore her.

***

Gaara was surprised when Lee woke him up one morning with a smile on his face. Gaara sat up on the bed and blinked until he felt a least somewhat awake.

"Yes, Lee?" 

"Would you like to come with me to the Christmas festival today?" Gaara didn't even know that was a thing. He nodded. "Wonderful! We're going to leave at 10, you have plenty of time to sleep, it is only 5. I'll see you later." Gaara grabbed Lee's sleeve before he could leave the room. "What?"

"...Stay." Lee blinked then nodded and climbed into Gaara's bed with him. Gaara's bed was soft but super small. Lee didn't mind spooning with him though. "If you have to go train, you can go."

"There is not anywhere else I would rather be than right here." Lee admitted softly and Gaara's eyes shut and sleep took over.

When they woke up it was almost 9 and Lee rubbed his eyes, amazed to know he slept that long. Gaara was just very warm. Gaara sat up and smiled tiredly at Lee.

"Thank you. I slept better." Lee nodded and Gaara climbed over Lee and off the bed. "I'm going to take a shower and get ready." Lee nodded again and Gaara left the room. Lee let out a long exhale of breath and pulled the blankets off of himself and groaned. How did Gaara manage to get him so worked up in their sleep?

With a red face, Lee ran to his room to get changed.

***

Gaara was surprised that they arrived at the Christmas Festival and they were alone. There was no Sasuke, Naruto or even Sakura. It was just them. 

Lee was in a simple pair of black sweatpants, he probably had something on underneath too. His white sweater was covered by his large black winter coat. He had his green hat on and a pair of black gloves. Gaara worse longjohns under his white sweatpants and had a large gray sweater and a white coat. His hat and gloves were also white. Lee was amazed with how much his eyes and hair stood out against the white color, Gaara looked like an angel.

"So why just us?" Gaara asked as they walked towards the entrance. 

"I wanted to spend time with you, only you." Lee said softly. Lee was still acting weird but at this point, Gaara was too nervous to bring it up.

***

Lee and Gaara wandered around the festival with cups of hot chocolate. If Kakashi were there, he would've gotten the hot mulled wine, Lee didn't care for the taste. Kakashi had him try it one year, it was not a good year. Plus, that was the year they learned Lee and alcohol does not mix well. 

Music was playing and the sound permeated the air. There were live bands playing covers of popular Christmas songs. Gaara didn't care for Christmas songs at this point, neither did Lee. They lived with Guy. Enough was enough. 

Gaara's favorite part was stopping at the booths with homemade items. He loved the knitted things. He saw a book, it was kind of girly, a tan color with a maroon boarder and maroon flowers in the corners. The center said "Recipes". It made him stop. Lee saw that it caught his interest and bought it, despite the protests from Gaara. 

"Why did you buy it for me?" Lee shrugged.

"You wanted it. I would get you anything." Gaara knew that statement was true. He gave up on fighting Lee about the book and just held it in his hands. It felt nice. He couldn't wait to write his recipes down. Most of them were just in his head.

***

Gaara bought a few last minute items for some of his close friends. He wanted everyone to have something from him. He wasn't very good at picking out gifts but he sincerely hoped they appreciated that he tried.

Lee bought a few things too. He held onto knitted flowers and thought about getting one for Sakura but decided in the end to not bother. He didn't want to think about her right now. The more he thought of her the guiltier he felt.

Looking over at Gaara pet sheep made Lee smile, but he didn't know how long this false happiness would last. Gaara would find out and everything would break under them.

***

When they got home, they put their bags in their rooms and came downstairs. Kakashi and Guy were huddled around the living room table and Gaara was confused. He walked over and Kakashi swatted him away.

"No! Not yet! It isn't done!" Gaara raised a brow and walked into the kitchen. Lee served him a cup of tea and they both sat down drinking and peeked through the doorway into the living room trying to see what Guy and Kakashi were up to. They seemed hell-bent on finishing it.

"What the hell is that supposed to be?" Kakashi asked.

"It's a chocolate chip cookie." Guy said defensively.

"That's the ugliest looking rock turd I've ever seen." Guy laughed and shoved Kakashi.

"Don't be mean to me, Rival. I am a delicate flower." Kakashi chuckled.

"Shut up. Okay! Gaara! Get in here!" Gaara raised up from the chair and Lee walked with him to the living room. Guy and Kakashi presented him with a stocking. It was red and with gold glittery gel in clumpy letters it spelled GAARA really lopsided. There were tiny sparkly gel pictures all over the stocking. Gaara noted the blob with dots was probably Guy's cookie, there was a rolling pin, a rubber spatula and a frying pan. At the bottom they drew a heart. 

Gaara slowly took it into his hands and examined it again. He felt strange. His heart felt different. He looked up into the eyes of Guy and Kakashi and then back down at the stocking.

"I know it isn't the most beautiful thing we've made-" Kakashi started and Guy cut him off.

"Speak for yourself." Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"But we wanted you to have a stocking. We made Lee's when he was a baby and he still has it. We hung them up today if you see the mantel." Gaara turned his head and walked over to the mantel. 

Lee's stocking was blue and had a rattle on it with his birth year and he saw a bunch of pictures. A track and field symbol, a martial arts sticker. Essentially the things Lee grew up to love doing. Gaara looked at Kakashi's. It had a typewriter, a martial artist, an apple, a book. Guy's had weights, a martial artist, shoes, a checklist. Gaara tilted his head and looked back at the stocking he held in his hand. He looked up again and noticed an empty hook near Lee's stocking. He slowly hung his up and stared at all four of the stockings on the mantel and felt like... this is what a family Christmas should be.

He turned back to Guy and Kakashi and hugged them.

"Thank you." If Guy was crying, Gaara was kind enough to ignore it.

***

The day of the Christmas party was crazy for everyone. It took place 5 days before Christmas and it was hard getting everything ready in time.

At the Uchiha estate, Sasuke was decorating the basement with Naruto. The closet was filled with alcohol that Itachi either wasn't aware of, or simply turned a blind eye to. They set up more chairs, couches, some TVs were brought downstairs and mounted on the walls. Sasuke uncovered the pool table and set up the bar area with snacks.

Upstairs Itachi was setting up the large living room area. He hired a company to help him decorate since he didn't have the time. He brought the piano into the room and went to check on the catering. He sent a text to Gaara after to see if he was still bringing stuff from the café. 

Gaara said yes and he also made a cake. Score.

The house looked impeccable and Itachi walked upstairs to his bedroom where he hid a few drinks and snacks. He knew he was eventually going to get bored of the party and hide up here so why not set it up that way?

Itachi grabbed a few gifts he had and brought them down to the tree. The kids were doing a secret santa exchange and Itachi couldn't help but buy some presents for Sasuke's friends. He placed Gaara's present down in front. Itachi knew tonight was going to be something.

He looked at the clock. It was 3pm. The party starts at 6. He has three hours to get ready.

***

Ino was at Gaara's house getting ready like always. She sat at his desk and make-up was sprawled all over the place. Gaara wanted to say something but just let it go.

Kakashi knocked on the door and when Gaara opened the door, Kakashi handed him clothes on a hanger and said hello to Ino and closed the door before Gaara could say anything about the clothes.

Gaara put it down on the bed and looked it over. A dark red sweater-vest, a gray collared shirt underneath, black pants and a red bow tie. Ino was absolutely in love.

"Oh my god you're going to look so cute!" Gaara glared at her and she just smiled. "Go on. Get dressed. I'm still doing my makeup.

After Gaara was dressed, Ino turned around and covered her mouth. Gaara looked so handsome! She quickly sat him down and grabbed a brush. He just took a shower not too long ago so his hair was still damp. She blow dried it and straightened it so his hair wasn't flicking up in every direction. She handed him his black suit jacket and when he put it on she practically swooned.

"Oh Gaara, honey. You're so handsome, I can't." She grinned like the Cheshire cat and Gaara sighed. 

"What?" She picked up her blending sponge and he rolled his eyes but let it happen.

***

Ino was dressed wonderfully and the two made quite the pair. She wore a long sleeved tight off white shirt with a red pencil skirt and a black peacoat and red heels. Her hair was in a beautiful intricate braid-bun and her makeup looked flawless.

Luckily all she did with Gaara was even his skin-tone and made the dark circles around his eyes more even.

"Wow Gaara!" Guy laughed heartily. "You clean up nice! As do you, you look wonderful Ino." Guy complimented and Ino grinned and curtsied.

They heard Lee from in his room rush down the stairs.

"I am ready!" He announced and came to a complete stop when he saw Gaara. Lee's face turned bright red and Ino smirked.

"I know. I made him look bangin'." She bragged and Gaara gave her a side eye and admired Lee.

Lee wore a gray patterned sweater with a white collared shirt on underneath and tight black jeans and a nice suit jacket. His hair was different, it was parted down the middle and pushed to the side a bit. He looked handsome.

"You look magnificent, Gaara." Lee complimented quietly and Gaara nodded at him.

"As do you, Lee." Suddenly, Lee got a terrible foreboding feeling in the gut of his stomach about tonight. He didn't know why, he just knew tonight would end badly.

***

Itachi made his rounds at around 7 and walked into the kitchen. He noticed there was a vast array of pastries and a beautiful Christmas cake on the counter. He smiled, realizing Gaara had showed up. He wondered how his student was fairing. 

He turned around to head towards the stairs to the basement and bumped into someone, nearly spilling his seltzer. 

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Itachi apologized and when he got a good look, he noticed... Gaara? "Gaara?"

"Hello Itachi. How are you?" Itachi was shocked. There was something about the way Gaara was dressed that made him seem... older. More mature. Sexier?

"I'm well. You clean up nice, kid." Itachi noted and Gaara turned pink.

"Ino made me do it..." He mumbled unhappily.

"You look fantastic." Itachi reiterated and Gaara smiled slightly.

"You look good too." Of course Itachi looked good, it was Itachi.

"Gaara! Where are you? They're about to start-Hellooo..." Ino's voice got strangely deeper and Gaara stared at her oddly. She linked arms with Gaara and flashed him a smile. "Hi! I'm Ino. You must be Itachi. Gaara told me how hot you were." Gaara's face turned as red as his hair and he shoved Ino off of him.

"Ino!" Gaara hissed and Itachi blushed slightly but laughed all the same.

"What?" Ino asked innocently. "Anyway! Nice meeting you! I need my boo now though so bye!" Ino dragged Gaara away and Gaara honestly hoped he would never see Itachi again for as long as he lived in this world.

***

Three hours into the party and Sasuke and Naruto finally broke out the alcohol. There was about 20 teenagers in the basement and plenty to go around. Lee was given a beer and Ino and Gaara shared a look. Lee and alcohol... Bad. They wondered how this could possibly go wrong.

The first game they played was a card game. The game was called Kings and it was a drinking game. (This game is played differently depending on who plays it. This is the rules for the game here) The purpose of this game was to get everyone as fucked up as they could in a short amount of time. A deck of cards was put in the center of the group and made into a circle so all of the cards touched. In the center was a shot glass of high proof liquor. Whoever broke the circle had to take the shot. The face down cards in the circle had to be drawn each turn and every card meant something different. Two-You (the picker of the card picks someone to drink) Three-Me (the picker of the card drinks) Four- Floor (Last person to touch the floor has to drink. Five- Jive (tell one line of a story with a weird movement, the next person has to remember your line, movement and make up a line while creating new movement and so on) Six- dicks (guys drink) Seven- Heaven (last person to put their hands in the air drinks) Eight- date (you pick someone to be your partner so every time you have to drink, they have to drink too) Nine- rhyme (start a rhyme, person who fails drinks) Ten- Social (everyone drinks) Jack- Rules (picker creates a rule, if someone breaks it they have to drink) Queen- women drink. King- pour the rest of your drink into a cup and put it aside. The last person who draws a king has to drink it all. Ace- waterfall (drink until the person to your right stops.)

Gaara was nervous, had never drank before and was given a beer. Not too bad. The beer was a low percentage. Ino sat to his right and Lee to his left. He didn't know many of the people here so he hoped the game would be fun.

Sasuke started the game and drew a jack and smirked.

"Okay, new rule. Every time someone looks at Naruto, they have to take a drink." Naruto went to complain and Lee snorted.

"Seems like that'll be a problem for Sasuke more than anyone." Sakura giggled and elbowed Lee. Naruto was next to draw a card.

"Oh shit, what does seven mean again?" He asked aloud and everyone threw their hands in the air. Naruto looked at them for a minute before throwing his hands in the air but way too late and he grumbled and took a drink. 

The game progressed for a while until Ino was able to draw a card. She picked a six and winked at Gaara and he rolled his eyes and drank his beer. It was gross. He was almost completely done with it though so that was nice. Gaara picked the next card and kissed at Ino when it was a Queen, she rolled her eyes right back at him. Lee picked a card and it was an eight. He grinned.

"Naruto, you will be my date." And then realized he looked at Naruto so had to take a drink which made Naruto have to take a drink. Sakura went next and drew another eight. She looked at Lee and giggled.

"Naruto, will you do me the honors?" Naruto loudly objected and Sakura and Lee looked up at Naruto so they could take a drink and Naruto had to drink twice.

Sasuke drew a four and smacked his hands so hard on the floor, Naruto was startled and almost knocked over someone's beer. Not only did this make it so he was too preoccupied to put his hands on the floor, but Sakura and Lee looked at him again and he groaned and they all drank.

The game ended 10 minutes later when Naruto was not only Lee's and Sakura's date, but also Sasuke's and Kiba's. Luckily though, he was not the breaker of the circle. That was Gaara. Gaara looked pitifully at the shot glass and downed it quickly, hacking right after. At least he wasn't the last to draw a king. That was Lee. Lee had to chug 27 ounces of beer. Gross.

By this point, everyone was at least slightly tipsy. Gaara was giggling within a half an hour and wouldn't stop hugging Ino. Lee was slurring his words and making jokes that didn't even sound like English. Naruto was almost asleep on Sasuke's lap and Sasuke stared at him red faced. 

For a while everyone got up and walked around playing pool or games on the wii. Until Sakura decided they needed to play more games, that is.

"Never have I ever?" Ino suggested and Sakura shrugged, too drunk to actually argue with Ino. 

A circle formed, this one only had 9 people in it so it wasn't so crazy. Kankuro sat across from Gaara and gave him a thumbs up. Gaara just laughed.

"I love you so much, Gaara." Ino said when she hugged her best friend. "You're like the perfect person in my life. You're perfect. I love you." Gaara hugged Ino again.

"Love you Ino. And I like you more than I like Lee most of the time." Lee looked over and frowned, pulling Gaara away from Ino and into his lap.

"No!" Lee shouted and Sakura giggled.

"Lee you can't drag Gaara into your lap. Put him back." Lee shook his head and buried his face into Gaara's neck. Gaara squirmed on top of him.

"Lee~. That tickles." Lee gave Gaara a drunken grin and proceeded to tickle him mercilessly. Gaara laughed so hard he cried until Kankuro saved him and Gaara sat right next to Kankuro for the game.

"Thank you big brother." Gaara said in a loud whisper and Kankuro nodded and put his arm around Gaara.

"I've always wanted to see what kind of drunk you'd be." He laughed and Gaara just looked up at him with wide eyes. "You're going to regret this in the morning. I hope someone takes care of you." Gaara nodded.

"Okay! Never Have I Ever! Who would like to start?" Gaara's hand raised. "Awesome. Go ahead."

"What do I say?" Gaara asked Kankuro.

"You say 'Never have I ever' then say something you've never done and if someone did that they have to drink." Gaara frowned.

"I don't want to drink anymore." He said quietly and Kankuro chuckled.

"I have a feeling you won't be drinking that much during this game. Go ahead." Gaara sat up straight with some trouble and thought.

"Never have I ever... failed a class." He blurred out and Naruto made a whimpering noise as he took a drink. Kankuro drank, so did Chouji. It was Kankuro's turn.

"Never have I ever performed a striptease for someone." Ino snorted and took a drink with Kiba. 

"Never have I ever had to do a walk of shame"

"Never have I ever said 'I love you' just to get laid"

"Never have I ever watched anyone have sex."

It was Lee's turn and Gaara's eyes practically undressed Lee.

"Never have I ever been to school drunk." Sakura's turn.

"Never have I ever grabbed a man's penis without his permission." The way she looked at Lee made Gaara's heart burn. Sasuke was next.

"Never have I ever had sex with my male best friend." Gaara watched Sakura took a shot and his nerves started to get shaken up. He couldn't hear the next few lines but suddenly it was his turn and he just looked at Lee with his heart thudding in his chest. Lee was still happily drunk and swaying back and forth. He didn't see Gaara's eyes hone in on him. Ino noticed. So did Kankuro.

"Never have I ever had sex." It came out so... small. Everyone probably thought he was ashamed, he wasn't. He was scared. He was terrified. He watched Ino take her shot and look at Lee and finally, Lee was paying enough attention to giggle at something. He mumbled a 'what'. Sakura whispered back 'never have I ever had sex' and he said 'oh' and took a shot easily.

Gaara's body felt numb. His pulse was throbbing through his body, it was a tight feeling in his heart. He couldn't breathe properly. Ino gawked at Lee and Kankuro never saw someone get sober as fast as Gaara did just then. He felt his brother shake against him and didn't know what to do. Gaara couldn't feel anything. His lips, fingertips, feet. There was a loud ringing in his ear where sound should've been but he simply couldn't hear anything. 

He vaguely heard the noise of his blood rushing through his head and making his face flush with shame. He heard the unclear noises of his uneven breathing. Was he even breathing? Was this breathing? Gaara couldn't tell. He felt like his lungs were ripped out.

This put everything in perspective. This is why Lee was acting weird. More importantly, this is why Lee was late on his birthday. And he didn't even confess!

It was almost a month and Lee didn't mention this at all! He knew it would destroy Gaara and he said nothing. He didn't even try. While Gaara stayed at home waiting for him, making him dinner and spending hours on a cake Lee didn't even touch, Lee was fucking Sakura!

Gaara was seething. He was so angry. He was so hurt. He was mortified and he was so upset. He never thought of everyone in is life that it would be Lee that hurt him this bad.

Gaara stood up on uneven legs and made a dash out of the room. Ino watched him leave with a scowl and stood up.

"Never have I ever cheated on my partner!" She yelled, and glared at Sakura and stormed out. She came back a few seconds later and took a shot from Kankuro's bottle. "Because I'm no fucking liar." And she left again to look for Gaara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
> 
> Sorry(NotSorry) This was planned from the beginning. (How Gaara found out it happened changed a lot but it was going to happen. 
> 
> WHAT I NEED Y'ALL TO UNDERSTAND Gaara and Lee are teenagers. They "love" each other, yes. But when did high school love last? Rarely. Because you aren't mature enough to make a relationship last at that point. You're selfish. You're still growing up. You're learning as a person. You're maturing. Lee and Gaara are just like any other teenagers. They make mistakes, they're emotional, they aren't perfect. This isn't a perfect love story where they meet in high school, get together and have babies and get married. No. They have to grow up first. And they will. And it will be lovely.
> 
> You may hate Lee now, but everything will be explained later. There are two sides to every story!


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Rae** : I would've had Gaara bang Itachi at the party, had Gaara not been demisexual. He needs more time with Itachi if that were to happen. He doesn't love him yet. And btw, funnily enough you are the 99th reviewer and the 101st reviewer. Don't ask how that happened lol.  
>  **RainiDayz** : Winner! Congratulations! You're the 100th commenter! Tell me your pairing, genre, and if you have a certain storyline, give me that too and I'll have it up ASAP. Thank you for commenting!  
>  **Leah** : When I read your first review I laughed and showed it to my husband. All that showed me was that I put enough hints through the story that you were able to pick up on it so good job!  
>  **uurahara** : Aw thank you! We get to see Gaara AND Lee have an emotional breakdown in this chapter! Horrah!  
>  **Wren** : Well honestly I wasn't mad at Lee either (but this chapter explains what happened and why it happened.) I'm glad you were able to figure it out. I didn't really hide it for a reason! I tried to give as many hints as possible. I've never really played a drinking game so it was fun to write and torture Naruto.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Gaara stood outside on the back deck where he knew no one would be. He needed time to think. He needed to calm down. He was notorious for his bad temper back in Suna, but he didn't want anyone to know that here. There was a reason his father called him a demon. Gaara didn't need the nickname following him.

Ino wound up finding him eventually. She just bundled up in her jacket and sat next to him on a chair. Gaara tapped his fingers against the glass table and tried to ignore her. He knew she wasn't going away. This wasn't her fault, he couldn't be angry at her. 

"Yes, Ino?" Gaara got his voice to calm down, now it only sounded pained. Ino winced.

"I may still be drunk, but you're still my best friend and that was not cool. I'm sorry you found out like that. That was super not cool. Lee is just not cool." She held his hand and Gaara had to tap on the table with his other hand. A nervous tick he developed.

"I'll get over it." Gaara said emotionlessly and Ino saw his expression change. He was fragile, now he was nothing. It was amazing how quickly his expression disappeared from his face.

"Honey, don't. You have the right to be angry." She started to cry which was strange for Ino, and hugged him. "I'm angry at him too. You're my perfect best friend and I love you and he doesn't deserve you because you're so perfect and I love you." Both of them turned to the sound of the back porch door slide open.

"Everything alright?" Itachi. Great, this day gets better and better.

"Lee is an asshole!" Ino declared loudly and Itachi was taken back by her tone. He then realized she was drunk and sighed. "You should-you should kick him out!"

"Ino, it's okay. I'm fine." There was that face again. Ino frowned and sat back down. Itachi stood several feet away.

"Hey, Ino. Do you mind if I talk to Gaara for a minute." Ino pouted her lip at him but got back up and kissed Gaara's head and left them alone. After all, she was a lot of things but cock-block was not one of them.

Itachi sat down next to Gaara where Ino had just been and looked at the sky. Snow was falling at an incredibly scarce and slow pace but there were still flurries. The moon was bright overhead and the stars could be seen in the small gaps between the clouds. It was a beautiful night. It felt wrong to be the night containing heartbreak. 

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I know Ino is your friend but you looked like you needed some down time. Drunk girls can be... overbearing, especially drunk best friends." Itachi said calmly, Gaara only nodded. "Would you like to go inside? I have some food and drinks hidden in my room. We can get away from the party." Gaara nodded slowly and Itachi stood up and offered Gaara his hand to help him stand. They both snuck back into the house and Itachi used the back staircase to get upstairs unseen.

Itachi's bedroom was nice, sleek, and open. He had a large bed with a black marble headboard and across from it was a flatscreen mounted on the wall. He had a desk with a nice computer and all of his paperwork and briefcase in the corner and on the opposite end he had his dresser and mirror. 

Itachi's bed looked bigger than any bed Gaara saw and that was impressive. Grabbing the remote and bedside tray filled with goodies, Itachi sat on the bed and patted the seat next to him. Gaara complied.

Him and Gaara ate tortilla chips and salsa in silence for a while. Itachi offered Gaara a drink and Gaara took the water. By the smell of Gaara's breath, Itachi was able to easily deduce that he had been drinking. What the hell did Sasuke do to these poor teenagers? They better all be sleeping over if they were drinking.

"Lee..." Gaara started, his voice cracked from not using it for a bit. He cleared his throat and Itachi looked at him giving him all of his attention. Gaara scoffed and shook his head. "Lee slept with Sakura and he didn't tell me about it. It's stupid I shouldn't be upset but I am."

"If it makes you upset, it isn't stupid. There's a reason. What's yours?" Gaara's face burned with shame. "It's okay, Gaara. I'm not here to judge you. I'm just trying to help."

"Lee and I... were... close. Not sexual, but..." Gaara scratched his head trying to say this without sounding like a terrible person. "We would kiss a lot. We slept in the same bed a lot. He told me he loved me and I was special to him..." Gaara covered his face with his hands, embarrassed. "I shouldn't have done that though. I knew he was with someone and I'm just... a bad person."

"I wouldn't say you're a bad person. Just you've done something morally questionable. Doesn't mean you're a criminal. We've all done things we aren't proud of or we wish we could take away. It's part of being human. You have every right to be upset with Lee for what he did to you. Let yourself be angry with him for as long as you need, and then forgive him. Don't forgive him for him, forgive him for you. You don't need to carry that anger around forever. 

"Like I said before, guys are stupid and just because I've known Lee for years and I know he is a good kid, that doesn't exempt him from the statement. Sasuke is stupid, so is Naruto. Hell, I'm stupid sometimes and so are you. You don't know what happened with Lee and Sakura, how it came up. I know right now you don't want to hear it, and that's okay. You'll listen when you're ready if it's a story you need to hear. If Lee does love you, which I'm sure he does in his own way, this will run its course. I always said to Sasuke, if you're meant to be with someone, you'll eventually be with them. Right now? You aren't supposed to be with him. Maybe Sakura has to teach Lee a lesson first or maybe you have to be taught something without him. You'll figure it out in the end. Maybe you don't even end up with him and you'll think back to this day with your spouse and wonder why you ever worried. It'll be okay, Gaara."

Gaara sat in a comfortable silence with Itachi after Itachi's speech. It was satisfying to hear and he was glad for it. 

"I think you're going to be an important person in my life." Gaara admitted and Itachi smiled.

"I feel the same way. Now let's forget about the party downstairs and watch TV.

***

The next morning, Gaara woke up with a pretty bad headache. He sat up and realized he was still in Itachi's room, in Itachi's bed. His face colored and he looked around and Itachi was nowhere to be seen. He turned to his right and on the nightstand was two advil, a glass of water, and a note.

Gaara,  
Take this when you wake up. It'll help with that hangover you're going to be nursing for a few hours.  
Itachi

Gaara took it quickly and looked down at his clothes. They were rumpled up and a mess but he really didn't care. Gaara walked to the bathroom attached to Itachi's room and washed his face from all the makeup Ino put on him. He rinsed his mouth out with Listerine since he didn't have a toothbrush and he drank so much last night he probably peed for 5 minutes straight.

Gaara did the best he could to fix his hair with his fingers but it wasn't helpful. When he was done, he left the room. The first person he saw was Sasuke. Sasuke stared at him wide eyed and it took Gaara a minute to figure out why. Then he remembered he was leaving Itachi's room with rumpled clothes and bedhead. He would be concerned if it was his brother too. Gaara simply waved and walked down the stairs in search of Itachi.

"Good morning, Gaara." Itachi greeted from a barstool in the kitchen. He was drinking a cup of coffee while cleaners moved all around to get rid of the evidence of last night's party.

"Morning. Everyone gone?" Itachi nodded and Gaara breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down next to Itachi and Itachi handed him a cup of coffee. "I don't want to go home."

"Want to go out to eat with me?" Itachi offered and Gaara looked up at him confused and Itachi looked around the kitchen. "I'm hungry and there's way too many people here cleaning so I can't cook. Might as well go get something to eat."

"But... I look terrible." Itachi gave him a look over and shook his head.

"No. You look perfect. Let's go."

***

Itachi finally dropped Gaara off around 4pm and Gaara's heart was heavy in his chest. Itachi told him if he needed a place to stay, the estate had plenty of rooms. Gaara thanked him and got out of the car and walked into the house.

"Hello Gaara. We were worried last night. Thank you for texting us when you woke up though." Guy thanked and Gaara nodded. "What were you up to all day?"

"I was with Itachi." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Where were you last night?" Gaara shrugged.

"I was with Itachi." He took off his coat and Guy gave Kakashi a questioning look and Kakashi shook his head and Guy looked relieved.

"I hope you had fun. Lee is upstairs." Kakashi said easily and noticed how frigid Gaara's body became. He tensed up in a second. "Are you ok?" When Gaara looked at Kakashi, he knew Gaara found out. His heart went out to the boy. Gaara gave a half-assed nod and a wry smile. He quickly made his way up the stairs and hid in his room.

"He knows, doesn't he?" Guy asked and Kakashi sighed deeply.

"He knows."

***

All day long, Lee had been waiting for Gaara to get home. He just needed to talk to him. Just a little bit! He knew he got drunk last night and by the way Ino smacked him across the face when Sakura left, he knew that Gaara found out he slept with Sakura. And Ino could smack really hard. Lee's cheek was still red.

When Lee heard Gaara's voice downstairs, tears sprung in his eyes. If he could just talk to Gaara and explain to him what happened... Would Gaara understand?

Lee decided to try, it didn't hurt to try, right? When he heard Gaara's door shut, he took in several deep breaths and opened his bedroom door and walked across the hall to Gaara's door and knocked lightly on it. It was then that he noticed the strange noise from inside the room.

"Gaara?" Lee tapped on the door. "Gaara can I talk to you?" When Gaara didn't answer but the noises persisted, Lee opened the door.

Gaara was standing in the middle of the room with his earbuds in, yanking down the lights Lee put up at the beginning of the month. Gaara's room looked like a mess.

"Gaara?" Lee's heart beat faster as he reached his hand out and grabbed Gaara's shoulder. Gaara whipped around like a frightened animal. Lee saw the tears on his face, his eyes were red. He wasn't crying long enough for his face to become swollen, but it was getting there. Gaara pulled the earbuds out of his ears.

"What?" He hissed and Lee retracted his hand.

"I-I want to talk to you." Lee admitted quietly and Gaara laughed. His eyes were sharp, his smile was fake and his laugh was dry. It was scary sounding. "Please, Gaara."

"I don't want to talk to you. You can leave." Gaara said quietly and bunched up the wires that still had letters attached to them and shoved them into Lee's chest. "Get out."

"Please, if you'll just let me explain." Lee begged and Gaara scratched his cheek with a smile. A dangerous smile. Lee didn't think he'd ever seen Gaara smile this wide. He laughed again.

"No." He said simply with a grin. "Just no." He was still crying and occasionally Lee saw his lower lip quiver but he kept the smile firmly on his face. "I can't talk to you Lee. I'm angry at you."

"But Gaara-"

"Stop." Gaara's voice was very low and threatening. "Get the fuck out of this bedroom and get away from me. There's nothing you can say to me that I want to hear from you."

"B-but Gaara. Y-you don't know that." Lee couldn't keep his brave face on anymore. Tears were coming out quickly and he could barely see passed them. "L-let me try."

"No Lee. I'm done with this. I'm done with you. Whatever it is we had, I'm not doing anymore. I can't." Gaara put his hands up in defeat and turned around and started getting changed into clothes that didn't make him look like a prat anymore.

"Please! Gaara! Stop! You are not letting me talk and-"

"I don't WANT TO HEAR YOU TALK." Gaara never raised his voice that loud, it startled Lee and downstairs, Kakashi and Guy were considering dragging Lee out of Gaara's room.

"Gaara." Lee whispered as Gaara pulled on a pair of sweatpants. Gaara ripped off his shirt and Lee looked at the scars all over his back and his upper arms. Gaara was never careless enough to let Lee see the scars in this kind of light. They were terrifying. Some of them even... looked like... burns?

Lee's heart ached. Gaara was abused so badly and he just hurt his heart and he didn't want to! He wanted to hug Gaara and try to make everything alright again. Lee would spend years begging him if that's what it came down to.

"Gaara." Gaara pulled a hoodie over his shirt and turned around and picked up his phone. Lee saw him turn it on and froze when he saw the background was a picture of him. Gaara seemed to forget too and his movements faltered. "I love you." Gaara shook his head. "I do-"

"I loved you too, Lee. I loved you so much." Gaara's voice was quiet, defeated. "I loved you so much I let you kiss me, knowing fully well that you had a girlfriend but I loved you and all that mattered was you. I loved you so much I sat here waiting for you to be done hanging out with Sakura so I could be with you. I loved you so much I spend two days making you a birthday cake you didn't even touch. I loved you so much that I ignored all the signs that said this wasn't okay. I ignored them all month long. This is what I get for loving you. Where is my gratification? Where is the Lee that picks me over Sakura? I just have one thing to say to you Lee." Gaara looked Lee dead in the eyes. "I am NOT your plaything. You made me feel like I was a slut or something. I don't show it, but I have feelings just like you. I've been hurt my entire life and not done a damn thing about it because I thought I deserved it. I don't. And I will not let myself give everything I have to someone who doesn't appreciate me." Gaara picked Lee's pin off the tree and gently placed it in Lee's hand. "Here. Give this to Sakura for me. Congratulations. She won." With that, Gaara grabbed his bag and left the room.

"I'm sorry. I can't be here right now." Gaara apologized to Guy and Kakashi. Kakashi stood up and grabbed a set of keys. "What are you doing?"

"Let's take a drive, Gaara. Guy stay with Lee. Make sure he doesn't do anything too dumb." Guy nodded and gave Gaara a look. It wasn't a bad look. A look that said 'I approve what you're doing'.

Kakashi and Gaara got into the car and Kakashi just drove. He didn't drive anywhere in particular. He seemed to stay on the back roads mostly. He didn't force Gaara to talk, he didn't even ask any questions. He just drove and it was nice watching the sun set and seeing the stars in the sky.

About an hour into driving Kakashi turned to him.

"You hungry? I'm dying." Gaara nodded. "I'm still in my pajamas so how's fast food." Gaara didn't care.

After they bought their food, Kakashi parked the car in a lot overlooking the town park. It looked wonderful with the light layer of snow undisturbed. The car's engine still rumbled and the heat coming out from the vents was toasty. The radio wasn't on but that was okay. It was a comfortable silence they spent eating in.

Once they were done, Gaara gathered the courage to look at Kakashi.

"I'm sorry." Kakashi's eyebrows furrowed together.

"Why?" It was Gaara's turn to look confused.

"I spoke to Lee in a not nice manner; I apologize if by doing so I offended you. I shouldn't have spoken to your son like that, especially in your house." Kakashi swatted his hand and drank a bunch of his soda.

"No no, you're fine. He deserved it. Hell, if Guy did something like that when we were that age, I would've yelled too. Besides, you're my son too." The nonchalant way Kakashi put it made Gaara pause. He looked up at Kakashi in bewilderment and Kakashi smirked at him. "What?" Gaara's face turned sad.

"No one... ever said that... but... proudly before." Kakashi ruffled Gaara's hair.

"Well, I'm very proud." Gaara felt an emotion he wasn't used to feeling. It was a wholesome feeling and for once, it was like nothing bad ever happened to him.

***

Lee sat in his bed, staring at the clothespin with his name on it. His heart felt broken in more ways than he even knew it could be broken in. He wondered if Gaara would ever forgive him. 

Thinking of his birthday made him sick to his stomach. He didn't like remembering that day. He didn't even like living through that day. It was awkward and not something he wanted to do at all. He wasn't even 100% sure why he did it at all.

Lee just wanted Gaara to come home and he wanted to make up with him and show Gaara that he was worth the forgiveness. 

He rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the aching pain behind his eyes. He cried so much he gave himself a headache. And still he couldn't stop crying. He turned on his phone and looked at all the pictures he had with Gaara and looked at pictures he had with Sakura. It was crazy to see how much happier he looked standing next to Gaara than he did with Sakura.

The one worrying thought that plagued Lee's mind is what if Gaara found someone else? It was completely selfish of him to think that way considering he had Sakura, and Gaara was right. He would put her first in a lot of instances just because she was his girlfriend. In his heart though, he could feel that it only belonged to one person. The realization that he destroyed the person he loved most was the hardest thing Lee had to come to terms with.

Sakura's face flashed on his screen and he frowned at the phone and tossed it across the bed, not wanting to talk to her right now. It was his own fault for getting himself into this mess, but damn it, all he wanted was Gaara.

Guy told Lee that Gaara and Kakashi went for a ride and Lee hoped maybe Kakashi would be able to get Gaara to hear Lee out. It wasn't something Kakashi was known for, but just maybe. 

Lee's phone vibrated and Lee picked it up, seeing that he had a text from Sakura.

'You okay?'

No. He wasn't. But Sakura didn't need to know that. There was no point in hurting two people he cared about.

He laid down on the bed and look into the darkness of his room. Every now and again he would forget the aches in his body and it was just like any other day. Then he had the crushing realization that Gaara wasn't his anymore... To be honest, Gaara never really was his, was he?

Lee closed his eyes and willed himself to go to sleep. It wasn't hard with his exhaustion, but what he didn't want was for his dreams to bring him back to his birthday.

Reliving that day in a dream was trippy. Everything was out of synch and kind of wavy. Lee could tell the colors were off and the sound was like listening to it underwater. 

"Sakura, we have to be back at my house at 5. Gaara said he has something for me." Lee insisted and Sakura rolled her eyes and they got into the car. "Is everything okay?"

"Yup." She popped the p at the end and Lee began driving.

"No it is not. What is wrong?" Sakura scoffed at him.

"I'm trying to make your birthday really nice for you and the first thing you tell me is you need to rush home to Gaara? It's just annoying. I feel like I'm competing for your attention with him. All you talk about is Gaara. Is there something going on with you two or something?" Lee got defensive.

"What? Sakura. You are being ridiculous. I told Gaara I would be home before you even asked me to come over. I pushed back everything with Gaara FOR you. Why are you so mad at me?" Sakura shook her head and Lee sighed deeply. Getting through to Sakura when she was annoyed would never work. She didn't want to hear anything.

They pulled into her driveway and Sakura hopped out of the car before Lee even parked it completely. He groaned as he unbuckled his seatbelt and prepared himself for the worst. He shut the car door and walked up the steps to the front door. Sakura was already inside and a part of Lee wanted to just leave her here and go home. It was his birthday and she was making it all about herself.

Lee shook his head and reminded himself of all the terrible things he's done and told himself she was justified for being jealous of Gaara, not that he would tell her.

Sakura was in her bedroom working on homework by the time Lee took off his shoes, shut the door and walked through the house. He wasn't even sure why he was here. Sakura was just going to keep giving him jabs all afternoon and he didn't want to deal with that. Still, he sat down next to her on the bed and pulled out homework.

"What are you doing?" Asked Sakura and Lee looked at her confused.

"Home...work?" He said slowly and she rolled her eyes for the seemingly 100th time that day. "What? What is wrong? You are doing homework. What would you like me to do?" Sakura teared up and Lee tensed. "Sakura, do not cry. Why are you upset?"

"Do you not think I'm pretty or something?" Lee's eyes widened.

"Why would you think that?" He asked and she rubbed the tears away from her eyes.

"We're alone in my house and you pull out homework." She stated and Lee looked down at her lap to stare at her homework. "Well I'm the girl! I'm not supposed to make the first move." She insisted and he looked at her curiously.

"What first move?" He asked and she practically hissed and grabbed Lee's face and kissed him. When she pulled away, Lee's tiny voice muttered an "oh" and she smiled and he awkwardly sat up. For whatever reason, kissing her was making him feel guilty and nauseated. She kissed him again and he closed his eyes tightly. He kept his hands on her back, not at her neck where he usually held Gaara. He didn't want to feel her hair tickle his knuckles. He wanted to pretend he wasn't kissing Sakura. 

Remembering the morning was an easy way to do that. He thought about pushing Gaara against the wall and Gaara kissing him back with so much force. Gaara's tongue in his mouth, Gaara's wet lips when they pulled away. Gaara's lust filled eyes. Gaara. Gaara. Gaara. Lee moaned into the kiss and he felt Sakura's lips curl up. She switched them so she was on top of Lee now and they didn't break the kiss. Lee kept his eyes closed as much as he could. Sakura seemed content that he seemed to react positively to their kissing. Clothes were pushed and tossed off out of the way. Lee felt his cock throb remembering Gaara's moan earlier. He felt Sakura's hand on the base of his cock but it wasn't Sakura's hand, it was Gaara's. He felt himself slip inside her and for a moment everything was nice. The feeling was unlike anything he felt before.

Lee's eyes opened and he saw Sakura's face and completely tensed up. No. No no no. 

"Stop." Lee shook his head. "Sakura stop." His heart was racing and Sakura's face showed concern but she didn't move.

"Lee are you okay?" Was the room getting smaller?

"Sakura. Please. Get off of me." She was worried, his eyes were filled with tears. He was having a panic attack. She got off of him and he jumped off the bed and his legs were so unsteady he fell to the floor. He was shaking terribly and pulled his pants up.

"Lee. Lee what's wrong?" Sakura stood up and she looked frightened. What was wrong with him? "Lee, please talk to me." Lee shook his head.

"I-I'm sorry. I have to go." Lee was out of Sakura's house so quick she barely had time to register he was out of the room by the time he got into his car.

Lee drove off, hyperventilating until he pulled off to a spot to look over the mountains, the same spot he took Gaara. He watched the sky and for a while, he was okay.

Then he remembered what he did. Guilt crept up his spine like ice and he cried. Not only did he feel disgusting because he felt like he cheated on Gaara, he felt disgusting that he let himself get aroused when he was with Sakura because he was thinking about Gaara. None of this was okay. He was awful. He was terrible. Gaara would never forgive him, who knew if Sakura would even look at him again.

Lee looked at the clock. It was 6pm and he told Gaara he would be there at 515 the latest. Lee chalked that up to another failure on is part and turned on the car and rushed home.

***

Lee woke up in his bed, covered in sweat. He was breathing heavily and when he touched his cheeks he could feel that they were still wet. Would this get any easier? Lee heard people went numb instead of being this sad about things and wished he was one of them. The pain of losing Gaara was... shattering.

Lee heard the front door open and he heard Gaara's voice. He heard Gaara walk up the stairs and the closer he heard footsteps, the quicker Lee's heart beat. Gaara's footsteps faded away and he heard him go into his room. Lee let out a long breath he held for god knows how long and stared at his door in the darkness.

What Lee was really upset about, was in most of his life he never looked at himself as a bad person. He didn't feel like he was. The thought of being the villain in Gaara's story, that didn't bode well with him. 

Lee hoped and prayed that Gaara would forgive him.

First, Lee had to forgive himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty fellas. Since commenter 100 got picked, it's time to get to 150! Y'all can do it!
> 
> And at this point, who are you feeling more for? Curious. What are your hopes that happen in the story. (besides Lee and Gaara getting together.)
> 
> Till next time!


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry, I'm very bored today.
> 
> Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **QuinceJaphet** : Don't worry, it'll happen eventually. Writing heartbreak is my favorite thing so you'll have to suffer. I don't like Sakura much ever but she was needed. (My husband wanted Hinata to be Lee's girlfriend and I was like wtf is wrong with you? Hinata can't play that role you monster) Thank you!  
>  **Leah** : BECAUSE LEE IS A PRECIOUS BEAN and he is very dumb.  
>  **Rae** : Lee is also my favorite (actually no thats gaara but I love Lee) It only gets more wild from here. Finally we can be like #byesakura tho. and just wait for the kiss at the end ;) Thank you!  
>  **uurahara** : Yeah that's the point. You'll likely get mad at Gaara too at some point in the story but they're boys and they're dumb. Eventually Lee and Gaara will have a sit down. I'm excited for it.  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Yeah I actually know a couple that's been together since 4th grade! True love exists! It's just rare to find so hold on tight! Yes, Lee is a butt in the story but his arc from this point is improving himself. Which will be great to write. (You cosplayed him? Thats awesome.) Gaara helped me too when I was younger! :)  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : AHHHHH. Sorry (notreally) YOU'LL LOVE THE END OF THIS CHAPTER THO

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

Since they were out of school until January, it was incredibly awkward in the house. Gaara rarely left his room and when he did, he left the house. Lee was becoming more and more closed off and he stopped answering any of his friends on the phone. He started getting really antsy and jealous whenever he saw Itachi pick him up for his piano lessons. It seemed that they went beyond what he paid for, the two spent a lot of time together lately.

Kakashi tried to get Lee to talk to one of them but Lee just shook his head. His parent's concern was getting more and more profound. Lee didn't really care. There wasn't much he cared about at this point. He sat at his desk and he worked on Gaara's Christmas present. He knew Gaara wouldn't appreciate it as much as he would've had they not fought, but he hoped Gaara accepted the present at least.

A part of Lee insisted that Gaara had to like it with all the time and effort he put in it, but then he remembered his birthday cake, it looked like it took Gaara a while and he didn't appreciate it as much as he should've. He was just so broken that day.

Gaara was still in the house and it made Lee sit on edge. His leg was bouncing and he bit his thumb a lot. He couldn't stand looking at their pictures anymore so moved away from his desk and sat on his bed and stared at the wall. There was nothing that made him feel any better. 

There was a knock at his door but he didn't move to answer it. The door opened anyway.

"Lee?" Oh no. It was Sakura. Lee could cry right now. "Lee, sweetie, are you okay?" Sakura left the door wide open and walked across the floor and sat on the bed. "I was worried about you. You've been acting strange for a while. Are you okay?" Lee wanted to snap that she asked that question already but he heard the familiar hum of a car engine outside. 

Seconds later, Gaara's door opened. He was dressed nicely. The sweater from Thanksgiving and a nice pair of jeans. His hair looked straight again and he was wearing his green beanie. He had his winter jacket hung over his arm and he grabbed his keys and bag before he looked up across the hall and saw Sakura sitting on Lee's bed. Lee wanted to reach out to him and say something-anything. But Gaara averted eye contact and stared at the ground and left the house without so much of a goodbye.

"You're fighting with Gaara." Sakura's words were flat, nothing like the soothing sound they were just a moment ago. "That's what has you so upset? Gaara?"

"I do not wish to talk about it." Lee said with his voice cracking. Sakura stood up from the bed angrily.

"Well tough! You always had this thing with Gaara. What is it even about? Why are you so obsessed with Gaara?!" Lee looked at her with desperation in his eyes, eyes that said 'please stop talking'.

"Sakura. Not now." Sakura pursed her lips.

"I can't believe you. After everything that happened between us and you're going to push me away from you because of him?" Sakura was getting hysterical and Lee closed his eyes and prayed that his parents weren't home to hear this pathetic onslaught. "You act like you're in love with him or something!" Lee's eyes opened slowly and he frowned, looking at Gaara's door. Sakura took an incredulous step back. "Oh my god... Holy shit. Are you serious?" She shook her head and laughed dryly. "You ARE in love with him."

"Sakura, I believe I asked you very nicely to refrain from this conversation. Can you please respect my wishes enough to do that? Please?" Sakura was livid. How dare he? She just found out that he didn't even love her, he loved Gaara! And he was sitting here moping about Gaara and ignoring her for days!

"No! We're having this discussion now!" Sakura's shrill voice exclaimed. Lee's patience was being tested heavily today and he was already wearing thin. "Are you or are you not in love with Gaara?!"

"Of course I am!" Lee snapped. "I literally could not imagine being more in love with him than I am! Is that what you want to hear? What the hell do you want me to say to you, Sakura?!" Sakura stared at him in awe. She never saw Lee angry before. He was never angry, especially at her. But the shock melted away into hurt and anger. Lee thought it was ironic how since they were talking about something SHE didn't want to discuss anymore, she stormed out of the house.

Lee felt a weight removed on his heart. It was only stunted by the realization that it was a little too late for it to matter.

***

While Gaara was playing scales on the piano, getting his fingers used to the motions, him and Itachi were trying to have a nice conversation. Gaara had been better today than yesterday or the day before. Itachi forgot what the first heartbreak sting felt like, but he did remember being upset. Gaara was coping with any way he knew how. Itachi was proud to have gotten him to write music instead of breaking someone's neck. Gaara insisted he was almost done with the lyrics and that was exciting. Itachi couldn't wait to hear the tune and match it with an instrument. 

"Would you like to sing me a line of your song?" Itachi was more curious about how Gaara sung, he never did that at practice before. Gaara shrugged. "The chorus is usually the easiest part to sing if you wanted to try that." Gaara hit a few notes on the piano and hummed trying to get his voice tuned and then rubbed his face to get himself in the mindset.

"I'm out here on my knees, you and I will never be, I can't compete it's true. Can't give you what you need, but still my love is yours to keep, it's yours to keep with you. There's nothing I can do. I'm yours to keep..." Gaara trailed off for a moment but continued the song. "You said 'sing to me' ladie di I would sing you soft to sleep, I would hold you in the silence. But now, I'm awake, my mistake, I was wading in the deep, I was searching for an island, but I'm still lost at sea... This is nothing like I thought it would be. I'm out here on my knees, you and I will never be, I can't compete it's true. Can't give you what you need, but still my love is yours to keep, it's yours to keep with you..." 

"That was lovely, Gaara." Itachi was impressed. He was always amazed when someone could turn their heartbreak into something beautiful.

"Thank you, Itachi." Itachi thought for a moment.

"What are you doing for your birthday?" Gaara shrugged.

"Probably nothing. No one really cared. I'm sure this year won't be different." Itachi frowned at him, he wondered how this kid's home life was before he moved in with Kakashi and Guy. 

"It'll mean something to a lot of people this year, I promise you, kid." Gaara frowned.

"I'm not a kid. I'm a teenager. There's a difference." Gaara said flatly and Itachi chuckled.

"Oh I'm sorry for offending you, Mr. Teenager." Gaara smirked and playfully hit Itachi's shoulder with his own.

"Shut up." Itachi laughed again.

"Anyway, I was thinking, if we got together on your birthday, I could bring you to the studio and we could record some of your songs. I could put some instrumentals to it. It'll be fun." Gaara's eyes widened.

"You'd do that for me?" Itachi nodded.

"Sure I would. What are friends for?" Gaara smiled, he had such great friends.

***

On Christmas Eve, Kakashi and Guy demanded Lee and Gaara come downstairs for their Christmas Eve box. Usually it excited Lee but this year he just accepted it like a punishment.

"What's a Christmas Eve box?" Gaara asked after they handed it to them. This is where Lee would normally answer, but Lee wasn't himself lately so Guy did.

"Since Lee was a little kid, we would put together a box for the night before Christmas. It had Christmas pajamas, popcorn, hot chocolate, candy and a movie in it. We continued this tradition since Lee was two." Hm. Sixteen years. That was nearly Gaara's entire life. Gaara thanked them for the box and unwrapped it. He took out the pajamas first and couldn't help but laugh. It was a pair of footsie pajamas. They were red with little Santas all over them.

"Don't ask. I let guy pick pajamas this year." Kakashi sighed and Guy gave him a thumbs up. 

In the box was movie theatre butter popcorn, a bag of reeses pieces, marshmallow hot chocolate and the movie Die Hard. Gaara looked up at them questioningly.

"Die Hard is a great Christmas film." Guy stated calmly and Kakashi laughed.

"Yeah. Also, Lee told us your favorite Harry Potter character was Snape and Alan Rickman is in that movie. We thought you'd like it." Gaara stared at the cover and nodded.

"I do. Thank you." He looked at everyone, even Lee. "I suppose I'll go get changed now." Gaara put his box of goodies down and went upstairs with his pajamas.

"Lee, I know you're depressed but acting like how you're acting isn't going to fix things with him." Kakashi explained.

"Yeah. You have to act a bit like yourself. Don't worry kid, Gaara will come around." Lee sighed and picked up his pajamas without looking at them and put his box down next to Gaara's.

"I know. It is just hard. I want him to like me again but he's so... cold."

"Lee, it's only been four days. I understand you miss him but give him time to cool down and then you two can have a discussion. He even said thank you to you today. Count that as progress."

***

Christmas morning came and the boys had to be woken up. Kakashi was angry that they weren't more excited but he knew he was just grumpy because Guy woke him up excitedly and he was up since 6. 

Gaara was really confused when he was woken up for Christmas. He seemed to forget during Christmas you get a lot of presents. 

He grabbed all the things he got for everyone and scrambled downstairs in his footsie pajamas. Lee couldn't believe how smitten he was even with Gaara angry at him. Gaara was the cutest and seeing him in those pajamas was the highlight of his day.

Everyone exchanged gifts and Gaara was very thankful for everything he got. This amused Kakashi and Guy because the only thing he opened so far was socks, a sweater, some underwear, stuff for his hair, and a Sherpa blanket. They hadn't given him his big gift. Gaara stood up and hugged them nonetheless and went to leave the living room to make breakfast and they called him back over.

"You didn't think that was all you got, did you?" Guy teased and Gaara looked completely lost.

"I never got anything before so this is the most anyone ever got me for Christmas. I thank you for it. You needn't give me more." Gaara insisted and Guy teared up at the humble attitude and Kakashi stood up and walked to the corner of the room. There was a long rectangular box with Gaara's name.

"Well, this is from me, Guy and Lee. We hope you like it." Gaara took it tentatively and looked at each of them individually. Even Lee. The gift was heavy so Gaara placed it on the ground and sat down with it. He looked up at Kakashi and Guy one last time and they ushered him along. He started ripping the paper off and when he caught the word in the corner his eyes widened and he quickly disposed of the rest of the paper. He looked up at them with shock and Kakashi and Guy were smiling, so was Lee.

"Seriously?" Gaara bit his lip trying to contain his excitement.

"Yes, seriously. Merry Christmas, Gaara. You deserve it." Kakashi said with a laugh and Gaara looked back down. His eyes watered and he opened the box to his new keyboard. It had a screen on it so Gaara could tell which note he was hitting and there were so many other features he couldn't concentrate right now because he didn't know what to do.

"Thank you so much."

***

Later on in the day while Gaara sat on his bed in his room and played with his new keyboard, Lee finally got the courage to give him his gift.

Gaara looked up when he felt eyes staring at him and Lee stood in the doorway holding a present.

"You didn't need to get me anything." Lee smiled wryly.

"Well then, it's a good thing I made it, right?" He took a tentative step in and looked at the package and bit the inside of his cheek. "Listen, I know you're upset and you have every right to be. But I've been working on this for a while and... it would mean a lot to me if you at least looked at it. If not, I understand." Gaara stared at him for a minute and was surprised by the lack of anger he felt towards Lee. He was also shocked at the lack of love. 

When he looked at Lee, he felt nothing.

"Okay." Lee handed Gaara the present and Gaara opened it carefully. "It's a scrapbook." He said, mainly to himself. He opened the book to the first page and it was pictures of the café, pictures of Gaara in his uniform. The next section was dedicated to their apple picking trip. Gaara in the wagon, Gaara eating pizza, Gaara eating a donut. There was one page with the picture Lee took of Gaara in the tree, right next to the picture Gaara took of Lee in the tree. 

Gaara flipped through the whole book and was surprised they had so many pictures together. There were even pictures with him and Ino, him with his siblings, him with Kakashi and Guy. It was clear that Lee spent a lot of time on the book. It still didn't bring back any feeling.

"Thank you Lee. It's great."

***

New Years took place at their house. There were some friends coming over and after a while, Gaara was surprised he didn't see Sakura. Could she not make it?

"Who are you looking for?" Ino asked and Gaara frowned.

"Sakura. She isn't here." He noted and Ino shrugged.

"So?" Gaara was just curious. What kept her away. Kakashi walked over to ask Ino and Gaara how they were and Gaara couldn't help ask.

"Where is Sakura?" Kakashi snorted and covered his mouth.

"Oh. You were serious? Um. They broke up." Gaara's eyes widened.

"What? What happened?" Ino asked, now amazingly interested in the conversation.

"I really shouldn't say. It... It was bad. Gaara doesn't need to hear it, I don't need him getting confused." Kakashi said and quickly walked away.

"What the fuck." Ino looked around and saw Sasuke. "Gaara, I'm going to ask Sasuke. He might tell me if you aren't around since apparently we're protecting your delicate sensibilities. Go do something and I'll let you know what I find." Gaara shrugged and walked away. Ino walked closer to Sasuke and waved him over when he noticed her staring at him. "What happened with Sakura and Lee? I heard they broke up??"

"Yeah they broke up... like... two weeks ago? I think?"

"Two weeks ago?! Why didn't anyone tell me?" Sasuke shrugged.

"I figured Gaara knew since they had a fight in the house. Guess he wasn't home." Ino rolled her eyes.

"No shit, Sherlock. What the fuck happened?" Sasuke looked uncomfortable.

"Well, just don't tell Gaara, Lee would be so embarrassed." Ino crossed her fingers and agreed. "Well I guess Lee was sulking or whatever, Sakura came over pitching a fit that he was ignoring her, then demanded to know if it was because of Gaara. Lee asked her to leave him alone and when she freaked out and said no, he snapped and yelled that he was in love with Gaara and she got pissed and stormed out. She called me crying but I couldn't really feel bad. She had to have known before they started dating. I'm just glad they broke up. They weren't good together." 

"Okay. Thanks Sasuke." Ino walked away briskly and Sasuke frowned at her and walked back over to Naruto.

"Man, if you weren't gay I'd say you were hitting on her. Only I don't know how you flirt because I've never seen it." Naruto laughed and Sasuke felt a headache coming along and he stared into the distance.

If anyone knew how Sasuke was when he was flirting, it was Naruto.

***

"Gaara, boo. I got the tea." Ino called and Gaara stood up and excused himself from a conversation with Itachi.

"I'll be right back." Itachi just raised an eyebrow and followed Ino. "What the hell does that mean, Ino?"

"It means I have gossip." Gaara tilted his head to the side.

"What... does that have to do with tea?" Ino ignored the question.

"Apparently, Sakura came in, guns blazing, pissed that Lee was ignoring her because he was sad and she was like 'omg you don't even love me. You love that ho Gaara' and Lee was like 'gurl you better stop talking' and Sakura was like 'omg it's true tho' and Lee was like 'yeah you right tho.' So yeah." Gaara stared at her and blinked for a while.

"Did any of those words actually come out of their mouths?" Ino glowered.

"What she's saying is-" Itachi started and Gaara jumped. "Sakura accused Lee of loving you and Lee said yes he does. I assume you're talking about Sakura and Lee's break up that absolutely no one saw coming?" Gaara frowned.

"Now Gaara, don't think just because him and Sakura broke up that means you and Lee will get together right now. You should wait." Ino explained and Gaara frowned at her.

"I'm unsure I want to be with Lee anymore anyway." Ino frowned at him.

"Honey, I'm sorry he hurt you that bad..." Ino looked at Itachi. "But Itachi is still hot." Gaara groaned and walked away.

***

It was almost midnight and Gaara was sitting outside on the porch. He didn't like crowds and inside the house was much too warm. He saw Lee a few times walk by the glass sliding door but Lee didn't see him.

Gaara took the time to really think about his feelings and try to put them in perspective. Did he want to be with Lee? No. Not right now. He couldn't do it. It was nice to know that Lee finally made a step in the right direction though. He was glad to hear that he wasn't lying to himself anymore.

"I knew I'd find you out here." Itachi said and sat down on the lounge chair a few seats away from Gaara. Gaara just nodded. "You thinking about Lee?" Another nod. "Makes sense. It's a sad time to miss someone, New Years."

"Why is it a sad time around New Years?" Gaara asked and Itachi smirked.

"Have you ever heard of people kissing after the ball drops?" Gaara nodded and it made sense. "Have you ever had a kiss on New Years? When the ball dropped?" Gaara shook his head.

"Lee was my first kiss and that only happened last month. Or was it the month before? I can't remember. My mind is everywhere." Itachi frowned.

"I'm sorry to hear that, kid." Gaara glared at him again.

"I'm not a kid." Gaara argued and Itachi laughed again.

"You are to me. Now let's get inside real quick. The ball is about to drop." Itachi stood up and offered his hand to Gaara. Gaara took it and allowed himself to be pulled up but stayed standing instead of walking inside. The sudden force of resistance caused Itachi to pause and look back at Gaara. "You don't want to go inside?" Gaara shook his head. "Why not, kid." Gaara scowled.

"I'm not a kid. I said that already."

"30!... 29!... 28!..." The chanting started inside and Itachi frowned at Gaara who remained unmoving.

"Why don't you want to go inside? It's warmer." Gaara nodded.

"25!... 24!"

"I know but I'm comfortable out here right now. You can go inside if you want." Itachi shook his head.

"20!... 19!"

"I'm not going inside without you. If you want to stay outside and die of hypothermia I suppose I'll die with you." Itachi joked dryly.

"16!... 15!... 14!"

"Yes because that's clearly the smart option instead of just saying 'oh wow. Early onset hypothermia seems to be taking hold of Gaara. Let me take him inside."

"9!... 8!... 7!"

"You're a smartass, you know that kid?"

"6!... 5!"

"I'm not a fucking kid!"

"4!... 3!..."

"Then prove it." 

"2!... 1!" Gaara yanked Itachi down with the arm that was still holding onto his wrist and took him by the neck and kissed him. "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Itachi was surprised at the kiss, that was for damn sure, but he didn't pull away. He wondered if he was helping Gaara this way. He waited for Gaara to pull away and when he did Itachi didn't embarrass him for putting himself out there. Instead he just looked impressed.

"You have balls, but you're still a kid." Gaara gave him a look which was different than any look he'd given him before.

"Give me 18 days." Itachi smirked.

"Gladly. Now, let's get inside. We don't need people wondering where we are..."

The only person that really did wonder, was Lee. And Lee decided he saw enough. He didn't need anymore heart break. If Gaara kissing Itachi made him feel better, fine.

Lee decided during that kiss, he would be Gaara's New Year's kiss next year. He just had to work on himself first. He needed to be able to deserve Gaara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyy the kiss everyone knew was coming sooner or later. This was actually planned to happen next september but I'm impatient. :)
> 
> Let me know what's good. You like the prospect of this couple or nah?


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't even remember if I did any prompts. This story is just a wild ride for a bit.
> 
> More Itachi/Gaara. Sorry.(Not really tho)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK! ANSWERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT! I should put that as a testimonial for my story. "thought it was gonna be a cute story and now I'm dying." I think it would work.   
> **Leah** : Yeah can't say I wasn't upset that I had to get rid of her. Gurl bye. I never cared for her character. I'm glad you like the story so much!  
>  **Rae** : I FEEL THAT THO I WANT EMOJIS. Hell yeah it's gonna get juicy. Wait till Gaara is a senior in High School. That. Will. Be. Hot. AF.  
>  **uurahara** : I'm glad you loved last chapter! I can't wait to develop Lee more. It'll be great. Especially since Lee is off to college in a few months! Him and Gaara will be separated for a few months at a time and that's when the real romance will begin~!  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : I'm so glad I wrote a chapter that had someone utter the words "I need a beer" I consider that a win. I'm glad I'm not a teenager anymore either. High School was brutal!
> 
>  **Notes!** : I just wanted to point out how cool it was to hear the ages of my readers! I got some teenagers reading, some people in their 20's reading (I am 23, myself) and that's just awesome that we can all get together and bond over two cartoon characters. I love all of you. Thank you for continuing to validate my ship. I'm not certain why you clicked on the story to begin with, but I'm glad we got to have this adventure together!

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Lee was having a hard time at school once it started up again. Everything was so awkward. He saw Sakura but she went out of his way to avoid him. He saw Gaara and Gaara acted like he wasn't even there. Sasuke and Gaara were talking more then they normally did and it left a bitter taste in Lee's mouth. Were they talking because Gaara was almost always at Itachi's house? Whatever it was, it made Lee feel... abandoned. He sighed and decided it wasn't the time to feel that way. He needed to be better.

At the same time, he kept remembering Gaara kiss Itachi and the kiss broke his heart and he felt stupid. Gaara had to watch him with Sakura all the time, all he did was see Gaara kiss Itachi once... Was that all? Did Gaara kiss Itachi at piano lessons? Were they even practicing piano. No! Lee grumbled to himself. He needed to focus. It was just so hard. He wanted Gaara to be happy so badly but it sucked when that meant he had to keep a distance. He missed Gaara terribly.

"Lee, you coming man or are you gonna stand there all day?" Naruto asked and Lee shook his head and smiled.

"Sorry Naruto. I must have zoned out! Let us go."

***

The following weeks, Lee didn't have time to be sad. He decided he was going to throw himself into his hobbies so he didn't have to think of Gaara. It worked, sometimes. 

He would go to school, go to track until 4, then go to the dojo and train until 5, then he would teach classes until 8, then go home and do homework, go to bed and do it all over again. It was stressful, it took up his whole day, but for once, Lee didn't feel so bad anymore. He was helping little kids learn discipline and he was teaching older ones to stand up for themselves. Since the fight with Sasuke, the dojo's numbers have raised considerably. Sasuke and Naruto still showed up for their lessons with Kakashi's class and Lee would join just for fun. It was nice having his friends around. He shouldn't have pushed them away in the first place.

***

Gaara sat at his desk and looked at the calendar on his wall. The dates up to the 17th were crossed off and he frowned, looking at the 19th. Every year on his birthday, he would expect something to happen to make him feel older. It never happened, he always felt the same as he did the day before. What could this birthday bring?

Ino was texting him about going out over the weekend to celebrate his birthday and Gaara didn't know what to do. No one ever celebrated his birthday. It wasn't that Temari or Kankuro didn't care, but Gaara's birthday was never celebrated and they guessed he just preferred it that way. He couldn't prefer it considering he didn't know anything else.

Gaara spun his chair around and sat by his tree, it seemed to grow since he got it and he smiled at it. He gently brushed the branches and his hand touched the clothespin with Kankuro's name on it. Gaara frowned. He felt bad for giving Lee the one with his name. Just because they weren't talking didn't mean he wasn't important in Gaara's life. He would always be important. Even if it was just in memories. Lee was the one who befriended him. Gaara would still be living in the café if it weren't for Lee, and he was grateful. 

Gaara pondered in thought for a while. Should he have pushed Lee away so aggressively? Gaara missed him and their talks. He missed when Lee got excitable. Gaara felt strange knowing that yes, he missed Lee, but he didn't feel the love anymore. He thought that would come back when he started to miss Lee, but it didn't. Did he not love Lee anymore? Or was he just too hurt by him still?

Gaara made a mental note to finally sit down and talk to him. It's been nearly a month since they talked. Gaara figured he was calmed down enough where the talk wouldn't end in a screaming match. Not today though, and not tomorrow. He was busy. With a smile he text Itachi.

'Are we still on for tomorrow'  
'You bet, kid.'  
'Enjoy calling me that for the next 5 hours.'  
'I'm trying to get this in as much as I can tbh.'  
'You're an asshole.'  
'Thank.'

***

Gaara woke up violently to Guy and Kakashi in his room with confetti.

"IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, SON!" Guy yelled jovially. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAARA!"

"But why the confetti?" Gaara asked sadly, picking it out of his hair.

"Because it's YOUR BIRTHDAY! YAY!" Guy threw more confetti at him and Gaara pouted. Kakashi laughed and grabbed Guy's hand to lead him out of the room.

"Anyway, get ready! Breakfast!" Gaara nodded and they left his room. He looked up to see clothes neatly folded on his dresser and shook his head with a fond smile, Kakashi needed to stop buying him clothes. A long sleeved, maroon dress shirt, a long sleeved V neck dark gray sweater and a nice pair of jeans. He even bought socks matching the dress shirt. Gaara rolled his eyes. Guy was extra, sure, but Kakashi was just the most.

***

Sitting at the breakfast table with Kakashi and Guy was nice. They gave Gaara a gift then told him that he had to be home later to get his other ones. Lee walked downstairs a few minutes later and smiled softly at Gaara.

"Happy Birthday." He said gently and handed Gaara a gift.

"Lee, you didn't have to..."

"I know I didn't have to. But I did and Happy Birthday." Lee sat down and started to eat breakfast and Gaara stared at the gift. It was soft and pliable so he could tell it was clothes. Gaara ripped the paper and when he pulled it out, he saw it was a sweater issued from the dojo. It was exactly like the one he used to borrow from Lee. He flipped it around and his name was written on the back. As much as he liked the gift, it felt weird. Was this Lee's way of saying Gaara needed it since he couldn't wear Lee's anymore?

"Thank you, Lee. I love it." Lee smiled warmly at him and it just cemented the fact that yes, Gaara did miss him.

***

"Alright Gaara! I got everything." Itachi announced and Gaara nodded from the recording room and took off the headphones and walked into the studio.

"When will we do instruments?" He asked and Itachi played with a few knobs.

"Be patient. I have to listen to the songs a few times to figure out what would sound best with your voice. There's a lot that could. Your voice is beautiful." Gaara flushed with embarrassment.

"Thank you..." Itachi smiled and messed with a few keys, Gaara had no idea what he was doing. Itachi grabbed the USB that was plugged in and pocketed it.

"You're very welcome, kid." Gaara glared at him and Itachi just smiled. "I couldn't help myself."

"You're very funny." He said flatly. "I'm not a kid. Let's go."

"But it's just fun to tease you." Itachi said with a smirk and Gaara sighed. "Where would you like to go, birthday boy?" Gaara paused for a moment.

"I don't know." Itachi sat down on the couch and crossed his legs.

"I don't know isn't a destination. I'm sitting here until we have one." Gaara groaned and sat next to him on the couch. "Are you hungry?" No. "Do you want to do something physical like roller skate or some shit?" No. "What about go to the movies?" No. "Get a goddamn smoothie?" No. "Jesus, kid. What do you want to do?"

"I told you I'm not a kid." Gaara growled and Itachi had to admit, he worked up Gaara a lot because the look of anger in his eyes gave him chills. Itachi just smiled.

"Sorry. Old habits die hard." Gaara rolled his eyes and looked away with a pout. This was just too easy. Itachi leaned in, real close to Gaara's ear and whispered "kid." Gaara whipped around and grabbed Itachi by the scruff of his neck and kissed him hard. Why that was his first reaction, he honestly didn't know. He could say though, it was something he's wanted to do all month. Itachi had just been teasing him the entire time and it was frustrating. 

Kissing Lee was always so innocent and shy. Kissing Itachi was just... angry and passionate. Gaara couldn't decide which one he liked better. He pulled away from the kiss, still holding Itachi's hair firmly.

"Not. A. Kid." Itachi just slid his hands under Gaara's legs, right where his thighs met the curve of his butt and picked him up and pulled Gaara onto his lap. Gaara stared at him in confusion and Itachi curved his index finger behind Gaara's chin and gently pressed his thumb against it. Itachi didn't do more than that but his eyes were daring.

"I waited 18 days for this? You're going to have to be more persuasive." He purred and Gaara's cheeks turned pink. "No, no. Don't get shy on me now." Gaara glowered at him and Itachi grinned teasingly. "That's better." Swiftly, he grabbed Gaara by the back of the neck and pulled him down. 

Itachi toughed Gaara a whole new way to kiss. One that was neater than Lee's and yet it felt... dirtier. Kissing Lee was just like innocently kissing someone to kiss them. Kissing Itachi was like this was the commencement of sex. Gaara liked kissing Itachi, but the passion in the kiss made him uncomfortable. He wasn't ready for that type of kissing. Not with Itachi, anyway. Gaara pulled away and Itachi sucked in air.

"Where are you going?" He whispered against Gaara's lips. Their eyes locked and Gaara was amazed with how much Itachi's eye color reminded him of Lee's. 

"I'm demisexual." Gaara whispered back and Itachi smiled softly.

"I'm not going to push you into do anything you aren't comfortable doing, Gaara. I hope you know that." Gaara nodded and frowned. "What?"

"Just... the way you kiss is different." Itachi looked concerned. "No, not in a bad way. A more... mature way I guess."

"And it's scaring you?" Gaara nodded and Itachi hugged him. "I didn't mean to. I apologize. We can stop."

"No. I don't want to." Gaara pulled back from the hug to look Itachi in the eye. "I just wanted you to know." Itachi nodded at him.

"Consider me advised." The look Itachi was giving him sent a tingling feeling down Gaara's back. Gaara wondered if Itachi always looked this seductive. "So what do you want to do?" Gaara just stared at him until he finally covered Itachi's mouth with his own. Itachi made a moan at the contact and it gave Gaara goosebumps. "Whatever you want, birthday boy."

Itachi's hands were on Gaara's hips and they slowly moved up his back, then back down. The light massage felt intimate but in a way that didn't scare Gaara. While they made out on the studio couch, Gaara wondered in the back of his mind, if everyone in his life was there to teach him a lesson, what was Itachi supposed to teach him?

***

"Hey Ino, I have to talk to you." Gaara said quietly after he got home. Kakashi and Guy were pleasantly surprised that Gaara came home at a reasonable time and decided to order pizza from the place Lee and him went on their not-date a few months back.

"What? Is something wrong?" Ino asked, voice full of concern. Gaara shifted uncomfortably in his bed.

"It would be best if we talked in person. I'm no good over the phone. When can I see you next?"

"I'll be there in 15."

"Thank you, Ino." They hung up the phone and Gaara sat up on his bed and thought about the afternoon that just happened. It seemed like something out of a dream. He was in a recording studio to record his own songs and made out with one of his friend's older brothers. He wasn't sure if he should be ashamed of himself or proud. He walked out of his room and stood at the top of the stairs.

"Hey Kakashi." He called and Kakashi poked his head into view. "Ino is coming over, is that ok?"

"Whatever you want, birthday boy." The words made Gaara turn red instantly and he thanked Kakashi and rushed into his room. He couldn't get Itachi's voice out of his head. He constantly felt Itachi's hands on his back and on his hips.

"Gaara, how are you?" Lee popped in and Gaara jumped and spun around to look at Lee. "I apologize! I did not mean to scare you."

"I-it's fine." Gaara's face was still red from before.

"Are you okay? You look unwell..." Lee scrutinized and Gaara shrunk away from him.

"I'm fine. Just..." He trailed off and after a moment of silence, Lee nodded.

"Yeah, ok. I get it. Well... If you would like to talk, I am here." Lee smiled and left to go to his room. Gaara just stared at the door and never in his life had he been more confused.

He quickly got up and changed into something more comfortable, not wanting to be in his birthday clothes all day. Ino should be here any minute and Gaara was biting his thumb and pacing the entire time. When he heard the doorbell ring, he jolted down the stairs.

"I got it!" Kakashi stepped back, wide eyed.

"Whoa, slow down there, Gaara."

"Sorry." Gaara opened the door and saw Ino. "I will be right back!" He pushed Ino outside and she glared at him.

"Why are you pushing me?" Gaara's lips were pressed together and he pushed Ino into the back seat of her car. "You're going to have to woo me a lot more to get me in the back." She joked and Gaara climbed in after her and slammed the door shut. "Gaara, what's wrong with-"

"I made out with Itachi." Gaara blurred out and his face was bright red. Ino's eyes lit up and she covered her mouth, then bounced excitedly on the seat.

"Oh my god! I can't tell if I'm super excited for you or super jealous! That's amazing. How was he? Did he kiss well? What did he do with his hands? What is everything he said? What position were you in?" Gaara looked at her oddly.

"Do all girls ask for this much detail?" She shrugged and nodded. "Girls are weird..." Gaara mumbled and Ino rolled her eyes at him. "He was... enjoyable. I was straddling him..." Gaara's blush darkened and Ino giggled. "He was rubbing my back. He was asking what I wanted for my birthday-"

"-that dick tho-" 

"-and he kept calling me a kid so I don't know. I kissed him. He said he wanted to do that for a while and we made out." Ino narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes but for how long?" Gaara scoffed at her question, like he timed it all!

"I don't know... Like... Thirty minutes?" Ino's eyes widened.

"You made out for thirty minutes? Did it get... sexual?" Ino winked and Gaara decided now was as good of a time as any.

"No. Ino, I'm not gay, I'm demisexual. I can't have sex with someone if I don't love them." Ino blinked at him, then smirked.

"So we could totally-"

"Not in a million years, no." She laughed.

"I'm just teasing you. Why didn't you tell me before? I thought you were gay and I kept calling you gay. I didn't offend you, did I?" Gaara shook his head.

"I figured it wasn't a big deal because I seem to be drawn to guys so maybe I'm gay, who knows." Gaara's phone suddenly vibrated and he pulled it out of his pocket. Ino knew who it was by the blush on his face.

"Is it-"

"Yes." Gaara read the text message. 'Are you going to have your piano lesson tomorrow? Happy Birthday again.'

'Yes. Unless you were otherwise occupied?' Ino scoffed at the formality and he shoved her.

'I'm always free for you. Can't wait to see you. I hope you had fun today. I did.' 

'You definitely made my birthday unforgettable.'

'Hope that's a good thing.'

'You could say that.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you at least tolerate Itachi and Gaara, they'll be together for a while. Why you may ask? 
> 
> When I was 17 I was totally head over heels for this guy who was 28. And when I was 18 and he was 29 we dated. And we dated until I was 21! We lived together, he was the sweetest! I still love him, as a friend. We both moved on and ended things on a note where if we needed each other we could just hit the other one up. We fell out of love is all. At the end it was like living with a roommate. But I won't forget the excitement and the passion at the beginning and we really did love each other and it's because of him that I'm who I am today and I'm grateful. I'm married to someone now and though I love my husband to death, I wouldn't be the same person without my ex and I feel like everyone could use that in their life. 
> 
> If you're wondering if Lee gets another S.O tho, no he doesn't. Lee is dedicated to bettering himself and it's Gaara or no one at this point.
> 
> And let me know your thoughts on Gaara losing his virginity to Itachi or should he wait for Lee? They'll be together for a while so Gaara would get comfortable with it eventually (not going to happen any time before september though.) My husband (yes we talk about this because he loves me.) says Gaara and Itachi is his new OTP (god knows why. He doesn't even read fanfiction he just likes my story) so he says they should but I'm still on the fence about it. 
> 
> And another thing! This story is almost 100,000 words. You should show you love me for that by commenting! Show me love, I'm needy. Kthnxbai.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me: Man, all of my lovely readers admitted they're addicted to this story. They're spoiled. I update all the time. Imagine if I updated like a normal person, once a week?  
> Husband: Yeah but you update every 3 hours.  
> Me:... yeah u right tho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I'm sorry, I don't understand your comment. Did you want Gaara and Lee to have a beautiful make out scene then get married or Gaara and Itachi? Either way it's fine with me.  
>  **Leah** : well then it's a good fuckin' thing I update every 56 seconds. I probably caused this addiction since you're probably used to me updating so much. Gaara and Itachi will not end on a bad note, you have my word!  
>  **Rae** : Second of all, biiiiiitchh!!!!! I kno I wrote it. I feel you. I also thought you wrote "gaara is a virgin and so is Itachi" and I was like "gurl, u have too much faith in Itachi rn" Glad you loved the chapter, boo-thang  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Oh man, I'm glad you prepped yourself for it, haha. Lee will slowly get better. (Especially in this chapter. He's really trying, guys :'( Fanfiction addiction is totally fine. Just don't let there be an intervention because that would be really awkward for everyone involved. I feel you with that, I'm totally so absorbed in this story, like I wish someone else wrote it so I could just sit back and enjoy but then again I do love writing this story. You write fine! Look at you punctuating perfectly. Don't bring yourself down!!

Chapter Thirty:

"You've been spending a lot of time with Gaara lately." Sasuke mentioned casually while him and his brother ate dinner.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Naruto." Itachi retorted simply. 

"You're deflecting." Sasuke countered and Itachi turned to him with a perked eyebrow.

"What are you insinuating Sasuke?" Sasuke gave Itachi a look.

"I think you know what I'm insinuating." Itachi just smirked. "I knew it!"

"I didn't say anything, little brother." Itachi twirled the pasta on his fork and ate it.

"But you gave me a look. That means something is going on!" Sasuke announced and Itachi sighed and put his fork down.

"Sasuke, do you have to be so excitable at dinner? I'm trying to eat." Sasuke frowned.

"You're deflecting again. Why are you deflecting if you aren't guilty." Itachi sat up, looking taken aback.

"What am I guilty of? Spending time with someone? Sorry. I didn't realize I'm unable to talk to people because I'm your brother." Sasuke scowled.

"That isn't what I mean and you're avoiding the subject!"

"No I'm not. You're just being ridiculous."

"I'm being ridiculous? You're dating Gaara!" Itachi looked confused and picked up his phone and started calling. "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Gaara."

"Why?"

"To ask him if we're dating because apparently that was something decided without me... Oh, hey Gaara." Itachi put the phone on speaker and Sasuke looked meekly at the phone, embarrassed that Gaara was now being brought into a conversation he didn't want him in.

"Hello? You never call me. Are you ok?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just have a question. Are we dating? My brother wants to know." Gaara coughed on the other line.

"What?"

"Yeah."

"Not to my knowledge we aren't. Why is this even brought up?" Itachi looked at Sasuke triumphantly. 

"Because Sasuke is probably deflecting the fact that he's trying to get into Naruto's pants." Sasuke jumped up from the table growling. "He is upset I spoke the truth."

"Itachi, be nice to your brother." Gaara scolded mildly and Itachi smirked.

"As you wish, babe."

"Babe?"

"Since apparently we're lovers." Gaara chuckled and the sound was delicious.

"Apparently? Itachi, you wound me." The look on Itachi's face confirmed everything in Sasuke's mind. If Itachi and Gaara weren't together, Itachi at least wanted Gaara. Sasuke should've guessed that from how often Itachi said Gaara was good looking when they first met. Only question, when did his brother become gay?

***

"Gaara you're texting a lot more than usual." Kakashi noticed a few days later. Kakashi, Gaara and Lee were all on the couch and Gaara usually paid attention to the movie that was picked. These past few nights, Gaara was acting like any other teenager and just texting the whole time. "Someone important?"

"Yeah, it's Itachi." Gaara said simply and Kakashi heard the keys tapping on the screen. Itachi? What was he doing texting Gaara so much? Kakashi tried to get a view of Lee's face and by the sulking, Kakashi wondered what Gaara and Itachi's true relationship was. "For my birthday when Itachi picked me up," Gaara began and turned his screen off, putting it in his lap, "he brought me to the recording studio and recorded some songs I wrote. He's been working on them ever since. He just told me he recorded a piano, a violin and a drum for just one of the songs. He said he's excited to show me the finished product but he still has to finish one more song. I'm impressed he did this much editing in just a week." Kakashi looked impressed.

"Gaara, I didn't know you could sing. That's wonderful. It must feel like a dream come true to record in a studio." Gaara nodded with a tiny smile.

"Gaara is an exceptional singer." Lee complimented and Gaara's face colored. 

"Thank you, Lee." Lee grinned at him.

"Can we hear the songs?" Kakashi asked and Gaara paused. "Still not comfortable?"

"No... but when they're done I'll let you listen if you really want to."

"Thank you, Gaara. That means a lot." Gaara smiled awkwardly.

***

"Itachi." Gaara groaned in-between kisses.

"What?" He whispered back and continued to shower Gaara in kisses.

"Aren't we supposed to be practicing?" Gaara asked through the kiss attack.

"You're right." Itachi stopped and gave a final kiss to Gaara. Right now, Gaara was straddling Itachi's lap on the piano bench and the piano was digging into Gaara's lower back. Itachi's hands were just under Gaara's butt to keep him from falling. "But you're the one on top of me." Itachi said and then a grin stretched across his face. Gaara blushed and pouted, climbing off of Itachi's lap.

"You put me there..." He mumbled and Itachi chuckled.

"Sorry, Gaara. I couldn't help myself. I'll be good." Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"You don't have to be good. I didn't say be good. Be patient. We can kiss after piano lessons." Itachi playfully rolled his eyes.

"Yes, teacher." The more time Gaara spent with Itachi, the more Itachi made his heart race. It was a strange feeling to know that you could be falling for someone. Gaara didn't love Itachi, not yet, but he did like him. As each day passed he liked him more and more. Gaara even yelled at Itachi when they got into the piano room for distracting him so much in class that he almost got his phone taken away. 

***

Sasuke and Naruto were at the Uchiha estate and Sasuke was adamant that they needed to spy on Gaara and Itachi.

"Why dude?" Naruto asked and Sasuke sighed.

"I think they're like together or something." Naruto seemed surprised.

"Wow, I didn't think Itachi was gay. And isn't he like super old?" Sasuke frowned.

"You're missing the point." Sasuke stated.

"What is the point? It's kinda weird that Itachi is like ancient and Gaara is like 5 but I think Gaara should date someone." Sasuke looked at Naruto confused.

"What about Lee?" Naruto shrugged.

"I mean, Lee had his chance. Not Gaara's fault he picked Sakura. But whatever, let's go spy on them if that's what you want to do."

When they both opened the door slowly and quietly, they peaked their heads in to see what was going on. There was so much anticipation that Sasuke felt... let down that all that was happening was Itachi explaining the song to Gaara. Gaara was nodding and he tried to play.

"No, this song is a love song. You have to put love in it, Gaara. I know you're normally stoic but put that behind you and focus on love." Gaara frowned at that and tried to play again. "It still sounds stiff."

"Then show me how to not make it sound stiff." Gaara gestured the piano and Itachi shook his head. "Don't sigh at me. You're the one being anal about it." Itachi chuckled and Sasuke was surprised he didn't have a retort for that.

Gaara watched Itachi's fingers dance across the piano keys. He was certainly impressed. Itachi knew how to play with emotion. Gaara could barely play. He was practicing a lot at home now that he had a keyboard but he didn't think he'd ever get to Itachi's level. He was amazing.

"You play beautifully." Gaara commented and Itachi smiled at him.

"No. I play with emotion. You could play that way too if you'd listen to me." Gaara frowned.

"I just... it's hard to play with an emotion I don't feel." It was Itachi's turn to frown.

"What about Lee? Didn't you love him?" Gaara shrugged.

"I mean, I thought I did. I haven't been able to feel it since the Christmas party. I think he just hurt me too bad." Itachi could understand, he's had heartbreak before. "He keeps trying to talk to me and it's nice and I miss him but..."

"It's hard." Gaara nodded. "I understand. It's tough when someone so close to you hurts you. It isn't something you can get over quickly, I won't pretend to think otherwise. I hope by you learning piano you're giving yourself something to focus on instead of that. It's always good to get new hobbies after heartbreak to expand your mind and grow as a person. And I will be here every step of the way if you need me to be." Gaara smiled and at the same time he looked confused. "What is it?"

"I'm just... With everything that happened with us... How can you talk about this so easily?" Itachi smirked at him.

"Why aren't I jealous?" The question caught Sasuke's attention and he stared at Naruto. "At the risk of sounding... old, in all my years, I've learned that I have no reason to be jealous of the past. There's no reason. It won't help anything. We started our friendship when you were in love with Lee, why would knowing you were in love with him bother me now?"

"Thank you for being a voice of reason." Gaara said honestly. "I need to learn that."

"I can't teach you, only time can. I can show you how, you have to learn it yourself though. I'm sure you can do it." Gaara thanked him quietly. "Something on your mind?"

"There's a lot on my mind. Nothing I can formulate into words." Itachi didn't have a response to that and Gaara stayed quiet for a bit longer. "Itachi?" Itachi glanced up and Gaara had an adorably confused frown on his face. "What are we?"

"I'm not sure." Gaara nodded, accepting the answer easier that Itachi thought anyone would. "What would you like?" Gaara shrugged.

"I'm not sure." Itachi smiled.

It was at this point that Naruto and Sasuke snuck out of the room.

"What about if we set up some rules, would that make you feel better?" Gaara's brow furrowed.

"Rules?" Itachi nodded.

"Nothing crazy, but if you spend all of your time with me and we're kissing, how would you feel if I slept with someone else?" Gaara's face flushed with anger. "I'm not saying I'm going to. I just want to know what you want our boundaries to be. Is it safe to assume you won't run around kissing other people or is that something you wanted to do?" Gaara shook his head. "Gaara, use your big boy words, you're an adult now." Itachi teased and Gaara glared at him.

"I just... I don't want to limit what you do because of me. Will you sleeping with someone make me uncomfortable? Yes. Will I stop you? No." Itachi cupped Gaara's face.

"Gaara, If you don't want me with anyone else, I won't be with anyone else, that isn't the problem. I just want to know what would make you most comfortable in this situation. You're still healing from Lee and I understand that. I understand if you don't want to be exclusive with someone, I totally get that. But if you do, that's fine too. Just let me know. I don't mind only kissing you. I don't mind not sleeping with anyone, honestly I don't care. All I want is for you to be happy." Gaara nodded but the thought of making the decision for the both of them still bothered him. "How about this, I'll make the choice on what we are, and I'll judge by the look on your face if it's what you want." Gaara nodded slowly. "Then I would like us to be exclusive. Is that okay?" Gaara nodded again, this time with redness in his cheeks. "You're too damn cute."

Itachi gave a chaste kiss on the lips to Gaara and laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

"What?" Gaara asked finally.

"I just remembered, when we first met I tried to hook you up with my brother." Itachi laughed again and Gaara's face had the correct reaction of disgust. "What? Don't want to date Sasuke?"

"No..." Gaara said quietly and Itachi laughed again. 

"Come on, you two would be so cute together!" Itachi badgered and Gaara pouted.

"I don't want to be exclusive anymore..." Itachi grinned.

"Is it because you want Sasuke now?"

"I hate you." Itachi shrugged.

"That sucks. You're stuck with me. Now come on. Play this music with love. You can think about my brother..."

"I'm literally going home now."

***

"Lee, have you been weight lifting? Your arms look bigger." Kakashi noticed and Lee grinned.

"Yes! I am so glad that you could tell. I have been working very hard." Lee said happily.

"Good for you, son! You are really working hard and all of it is paying off!" Guy proclaimed with a grin.

"Thank you dad! I will continue to train hard!" As the two went back and forth, Kakashi noticed a few pamphlets on the ground by Lee's bookbag and picked them up.

"Lee, you're looking into colleges in different states now?" Lee paused and looked nervous.

"I was. They had some really good courses for Athletic Training, Exercise Science and Pre-Physical Therapy I was interested in. None of the colleges around here offer all three. I would like to major in Physical Therapy and minor with athletic training and exercise science. The best school for that is two states away. I wanted to talk to you two about it..."

"I think it's great." Kakashi said, even though the thought of Lee not in the house everyday broke his heart as a father.

***

"Sasuke, I think you should get a boyfriend." Naruto suggested and Sasuke tensed and turned to him.

"Why...?" Sasuke asked slowly and Naruto put his hands behind his head.

"I dunno. You just should probably get a boyfriend. Then you could focus on that and not the weird relationship your brother and Gaara have." Sasuke scowled. "Do you even like anyone?"

"Of course I do!" Sasuke bit his tongue-hard. Why the hell did he say that. Naruto's eyes lit up.

"You do? And you didn't tell me? What kind of best friend are you? Who is it??" Sasuke pressed his lips together tightly and shook his head. "Com'mon! You can tell me! I'm your best pal! I can help!" The fact that Naruto seemed to want to hook Sasuke up with this random guy (in Naruto's head) really spoke volumes about his true feelings. His true feelings being he didn't have any romantic feeling for Sasuke at all. Awesome.

"No Naruto. Leave it alone." Sasuke stood up.

"Wha-where are you goin?" Naruto asked and Sasuke aggressively grabbed pajamas from his dresser.

"I'm going to take a shower. Don't get into anything while I'm gone." Sasuke stormed out of the room, effectively slamming the door and Naruto pouted at the door. He waited a few seconds until he heard the bathroom door close, then he jumped up and ran around the room in search of something that would tell him who Sasuke's crush was! Naruto grinned with excitement, this was gonna be good!

Naruto surveyed the room he'd been in a thousand times and looked in every possible (obvious) spot where something juicy could be. Nothing in his desk, under his bed, in his nighstand, in his underwear drawer, closet (hah) or even in-between the mattress. Naruto was getting annoyed. Why couldn't Sasuke be like every other teenager and hide things in obvious places? Instead, the room was immaculate. Sasuke seriously had issues.

Naruto walked over to the bookshelf Sasuke had in his room. What a nerd, having a big bookcase like this in your room. Naruto shook his head disapprovingly. He decided since he had time to kill (an angry Sasuke took a long shower) he had nothing better to do than to go through all of the books.

Naruto skimmed through the top row, they were all Young Adult novels, Sci-Fi books and Horror stories. Yawn. The next shelf had all of Sasuke's Dictionaries, Thesaurus', textbooks and useless books like that. The third shelf had a bunch of composition notebooks. Most of them had tape on the spine to label what they were. Science, History, English, Spanish, French, Latin (Sasuke took three languages???) Math, Italian (Four languages???). But Naruto thought for a minute. He knew every single one of Sasuke's classes. He thought back on them. Sasuke had a book labeled Trigonometry but... Naruto was positive he never took trig. Naruto grabbed that book and pulled it out and skimmed through it. This didn't look like math. 

Sitting down with his back against the bookcase, he opened to the first page. It looked like a journal! Score! What a loser, he even dated it. Naruto skipped through a few pages until he found September. The end of September is when Sasuke was acting really weird with Itachi. Naruto scanned for Itachi's name towards the end of September, I took a while but he was able to find it. Sasuke writes a lot...

__

_September 26th,_  
I remember back when my brother told me I should keep a notebook to record my thoughts so it would be easier to organize. Since I like organization I kept writing. It's just hard to write about certain things. My sexuality was something I ignored for a long time. Itachi and I... well, he found out about me. I wasn't really hiding it, I wanted him to know and I didn't know how to tell him. It isn't like I was scared or anything, it's Itachi. He couldn't care less if I were gay. I just wish it was easier to talk to him sometimes. The thing about Itachi is he has a tendency of fluctuating between being my father figure and being my older brother. When he found out, he turned into a father.  
To be fair, I didn't tell him in a nice way. I experimented with this guy and he was staying over for a few days during the summer and I decided to tell Itachi that the guy he met was my summer fling. He was not happy.  
Itachi said he didn't care who I liked, but the fact that I lied to him and brought this guy into our home under false pretenses was unacceptable. Since then he's been watching me really close like I'm going to hop into bed with some guy, any guy. I'm not. I already expressed my feelings on that matter. Plus, I couldn't like anyone right now. I mean I do, but no one other than him. It's frustrating having a crush on someone, especially if they're straight.  
Hopefully this dumb crush on Naruto will go away soon...

Naruto's face turned bright red and he stared in shock at the journal. He must've read the line 7 times before he was able to put the book down. Naruto rubbed his face to try to move the blood along so his face wasn't red anymore. He couldn't be blushing this much if Sasuke walked in. He would know! How wouldn't he? Would he?

Naruto quickly put the notebook back and grabbed his things and hauled ass out of there. He needed to clear his mind right now. He didn't know what was going on anymore.

***

Itachi was lounging on his bed with Gaara laying on his chest and they were watching TV. It was something calming and mindless and exactly how he wanted to end his time with Gaara that day.

"I have to go soon." Gaara whispered and Itachi sighed.

"I know."

"Will you drop me off at work?" Itachi was confused.

"Why do you need to go to work?" Gaara looked up at him from his chest.

"Because I have things to do there. I pushed all of it off as much as I could. I can't do it anymore." Itachi looked apologetic. "No it was my decision. Don't be sorry. I don't regret it. I'm just really behind right now and I have to make sure someone has their muffin tomorrow morning on their way to work." Itachi smirked at Gaara.

"What would I do without you my little muffin maker?" Gaara shook his head.

"No. I'm not being known as your muffin maker. I refuse." Itachi chuckled and tilted Gaara's chin up to give him a kiss. 

"You can be known as my whatever you want." Itachi purred and Gaara bit his lip. "You're so cute when you do that."

"Why the hell does everyone call me cute?" 

"Because you're like 4 feet tall and you have that face." Itachi kissed down Gaara's face but Gaara was not placated.

"I'll have you know my dad calls me demon for a reason." Itachi frowned at the and pulled Gaara up closer to him.

"Your dad can suck a cactus. Ok? I don't care what he says." Gaara looked saddened by that statement.

"But I like cacti..." Itachi laughed and shook his head.

"You see, these are reasons why people say you're adorable."

"You said cute before!" Gaara argued and Itachi nodded.

"You are both."

***

Gaara sent a text to Kakashi and Guy telling them he was spending the night at the shop. He had too much to do and not enough time to do it. Kakashi replied that he would stop over at some point to drop off clothes. Guy demanded Gaara actually sleep. 

Yeah like that would happen. Gaara hadn't done an all nighter in months but he missed it. Baking is best at night. He asked Ino if she wanted to join but she said she had a date and even if she didn't she would rather die than to work overnight. Fair enough.

A few hours into prepping, Gaara heard the door open. Kakashi was finally here with his clothes, he supposed. Footsteps got closer and the door opened. Gaara glanced up and was surprised that Kakashi was not there, but Lee.

"What are you doing here?" Lee held up a bag.

"I brought you clothes. I have pajamas, your toothbrush, your slippers, and an outfit for tomorrow. Would you like me to put it down?" Gaara nodded mutely and Lee walked into the back room to put the bag down. When he came back he watched Gaara's hands form rolls.

"Thank you, Lee. You don't have to stay." Lee shifted on his feet.

"What if I want to?" Lee asked and Gaara frowned. "I will help you bake, I promise. I won't even talk. Listen, I know I messed up and I will not pretend I did not. You can still be angry with me, I do not mind. But I beg you, please let me try to be your friend again. I will no kiss you, I will not flirt with you, just please let me be in your life, Gaara. I miss you. I know that I have been in this position before, apologizing and saying I miss you and I will not mess up again. And I know that I did mess up again. Maybe I will again, I do not know. I do not intend to mess up and I never want to hurt you again. So if you would just... please, let me do my best to be a loyal friend to you."

Gaara stared at Lee for a bit, then went back to forming rolls. Lee didn't take offense, he could tell what the look on Gaara's face was. He could tell anyone what any expression meant on his face. He could tell Gaara was biting his cheek which meant he was thinking. This could be a good thing. Hopefully.

"Okay Lee. You can stay." Lee smiled and quickly rubbed his eyes. He couldn't start crying right now. "Why don't you start preparing pie dough?" Lee beamed and nodded. He walked briskly over to the binder with all the recipes was and got out the one for pie dough. He grabbed a dry-erase marker and circled the correct size recipe and started on his task, keeping his word that he wouldn't say anything.

***

Around midnight is when Gaara told Lee he could go home, he insisted really, but Lee didn't hear any of it.

"I am not tired yet, Gaara." He assured with a smile. Gaara could tell he was lying but didn't press him more. Gaara just hoped Lee wasn't completely useless in school tomorrow. (Later today?)

After working for a while longer, Gaara heard the front door open again and he stiffened. Lee looked warily at the door and put down the whisk he was using. Both of them looked at the door, hearing footsteps get closer. Gaara was trying to identify who's footsteps they were. Too heavy to be Temari, too precise to be Kankuro. Who else would be there at that time?

Lee almost jumped when the door was pushed open and felt a strange sense of relief and disappointment when he saw Itachi in the doorway. There were some bags under his eyes, he looked exhausted.

"You miss me already?" Gaara said dryly and Itachi glared at him.

"Shut up, kid." Itachi walked over to the table and said hello to Lee, as though seeing Lee and Gaara in a café bakery at midnight was something commonly seen.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Itachi smiled tiredly and pulled something out from his pocket and handed it to Gaara. It took a second for it to process but slowly a grin stretched across Gaara's face.

"Is this-"

"Yes. You're welcome. I'm tired. I'm going home and going to bed." Itachi announced and Gaara stared at the USB in wonder.

"How long have you been working on it today?"

"Since after I dropped you off here. I went to the studio, recorded some guitar and edited the hell out of the songs and here we are now." Gaara was touched.

"You stayed at the studio for 6 hours today to finish this?" Itachi nodded. "Why?"

"Because it was for you. Don't think too far into it. Just enjoy. I'm going to sleep now. Bye. Bye Lee." Itachi walked out of the kitchen and Gaara just stared at the door. He didn't know why he was so tense. He put down the USB and quickly ran after Itachi.

"Wait." Itachi turned around and Gaara stopped in front of him. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome, Gaara. You should get some sleep too." Gaara stared at Itachi blankly. "Or whatever it is you're going to do. At night. In the kitchen. With Lee." Itachi winked and Gaara didn't look amused. "What? I'm joking."

"I would never do that to you. You said we were exclusive." 

"You told me you didn't want to be anymore." Itachi teased with a smirk and Gaara glowered.

"Shut up." Gaara took a step closer and Itachi gave him a cheeky grin.

"If you're going to give me a goodbye kiss, gladly." And Gaara did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... holy shit. Y'all are almost at comment 150, this was not meant to happen so fast. I'm not even done with Rainidayz' prompt. (I have to listen to the right song to get it perfect. The idea is there but I live for small details, especially in one shots. I'll be out soon.)
> 
> So how about some love for someone who updated twice the past few days? Huh??
> 
> So on a side note, I went shopping today and I found a shirt in the store New Yorker (holla. #NewYorker) and it was a few pizza slices and it said "You Bake Me Crazy!" and I was like "!!!!!!!!!" and I bought it. And then I told my husband the universe was telling me I should be home writing right now. lol


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I forgot what this chapter is about... Um... Oh. Lee and Gaara finally talk and they're on their way to becoming friends again. Also Naruto avoids Sasuke. Sasuke is sad. Temari threatens Itachi. I think that sums it up?
> 
>  **Side Note** : besides the song "it ain't me" all the songs written are original songs by Casey Breves. As I said before, I pictured that to be Gaara's singing voice so I want to keep all songs sung by Casey so if anyone wants to listen to it they get the effect of the same singer, this way it's more believable. (instead of me giving you like 13 different singers and being like "these are all what gaara sounds like. Freddie Mercury, KORN, Frankie Valli, and fuckin Elvis Presley) So yeah. PLEASE LISTEN TO HIM. HE IS AMAZING. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : That is amazing! I'm glad you like the story! (especially being in creative writing! Glad I can write well enough to hold your attention!) Don't worry, you'll never have to wait long with this story. It's usually updated twice a day (Long story short, I moved to a different country and I'm waiting on my paperwork so I can start working so I literally do nothing all day until that happens.) Itachi is my favoriteee. Yes, Sasuke's heart will break a bit but the boys will work it out eventually!  
>  **Rae** : BITCHHH!!! Thanks I try. Lee is already growing as a person as you will see in this chapter. It's a sweet chapter. Sasuke is a badass with all his language skills. I CAN'T WAIT TO WRITE GUY AND LEE DOING A COLLEGE TOUR OMG. And Itachi and Kakashi talking... Oh my heart. Lots of love right back, ho.  
>  **Lola** : Thanks! it's nice to be appreciated for my work. I honestly love the pairing more than I thought I would?? It's too cute. Thank you again for your kind words!  
>  **uurahara** : Haha thank you. You won't like the story for a while since Gaara will be with Itachi for a bit but in the end, Itachi will be a total bro. (As you will learn)  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Haha it's all good. There won't be much of a time skip really. Maybe skipping most of February and march? But there's a lot going on this year for the boys. Plus, the way Itachi and Gaara split will be too good for me not to write. You'll appreciate it when it happens. There will of course be Naruto/Sasuke angst. Sasuke is involved lol.
> 
> Y'ALL THIS STORY IS OFFICIALLY 200 PAGES!

Chapter Thirty-one:

When Gaara got back to the kitchen, he was antsy. Lee knew it was because he wanted to hear the finished product of his songs and he didn't have anything to listen to them on. After thinking for a while, Lee had a realization.

"Gaara, I took Kakashi's car today. It has a port for USB if you want to listen to the songs." Gaara stared down at the task he hadn't finished yet and back at the USB. He eventually decided his curiosity won and him and Lee made their way to the car.

They sat in their seats and Lee turned the car on and Gaara handed him the USB. Lee plugged it in, turned the radio on and a loading screen popped up. Suddenly Itachi's voice filled their ears.

"Hey Gaara, I have all your songs here with instruments that I felt would enhance the songs. If there is anything you want to change, please, let me know and I will do it for you in a heartbeat. The songs are in this order, Yours To Keep, I Touched The Fire, Just the Same and It Ain't Me. Thank you for letting me do this for you. I hope you enjoy the songs."

Gaara listened with bated breath, nervous of how his voice sounded on the radio. Suddenly, he heard a guitar playing. It was such a nice sound. He started singing and that's when he remembered, he wrote this song about Lee.

"Here, I'm alone, on my own, feel the aching in my bones, when I let myself remember. I always wait till it's late, that's the time you used to call, when you'd call me I'd surrender, but I can't bring myself to say, that I knew it would end up this way... I'm out here on my knees, you and I will never be, I can't compete it's true, can't give you what you need, but still my love is yours to keep, it's yours to keep with you..." Listening to the song right next to Lee made him feel incredibly nervous. Could Lee tell Gaara wrote the song about him?

Lee was frigid in his seat. He was trying to act nonchalant but the idea that he hurt Gaara enough to write a song like this made his heart ache. Lee looked down at his lap in shame. It was a beautiful song, he just hoped that if Gaara wrote him a song, it wouldn't be so sad. 

"Laid every card down, turn every key. And now I'm all out of ways to let know, no I can't bring you back to me, but I'm out here on my knees. And you and I will never be, I can't compete it's true, Can't give you what you need, but still my love is yours to keep, it's yours too keep with you... You and I will never be, I can't compete its true, can't give you what you need but still my love is yours its yours to keep with you... There's nothing I can do. I'm yours to keep..." The song ended and Gaara stopped it from playing the next song and they sat quietly in the car.

"Gaara." Lee's voice cracked. "That was beautiful." Lee sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry-"

"No Lee. Stop. Don't." Gaara's voice was soft with defeat. "No need."

"Can we please talk, Gaara? Please?" Gaara crossed his arms, something he did when he was uncomfortable and wanted to make himself smaller. It wasn't a good sign.

"You promised you wouldn't talk." He said sharply and Lee kept rubbing his cheeks of the fresh tears. "I can't imagine you have something to say to me that I want to hear."

"Gaara please, I am begging you." Lee suck in a sharp inhale of breath that was uneven with his crying. His breathing was choppy and his voice was desperate. "Even if it will change nothing, at least let me talk. That is all I ask. Please. Please please please." Gaara turned on the seat so his back was pressed against the door, this also made sure that he was furthest away from Lee. 

"I don't want to hear it. But talk if you really want to." Lee gave Gaara a watery smile and rubbed his eyes. "What do you want to tell me?"

"With Sakura-"

"I'm already uninterested."

"Please, Gaara." Gaara pursed his lips but didn't say anything else. "I would like to tell you what happened with Sakura on my birthday." Gaara laughed dryly.

"Oh great. The story I've been dying to hear." Lee frowned and continued talking.

"Sakura and I were fighting a lot around my birthday. She... she was mad that I would talk about you and I would ignore her for hours when I was home because of you. She was jealous. When she heard that... that you wanted me home for my birthday, she was upset. She felt I should have spent all day with her since I was her boyfriend. I did not want to go with her but I also could not fight anymore. I was tired of it, it was exhausting... Anyway, the entire way to her house she was arguing with me because I told her I needed to be home for you at 5 and she was mad again because again I was talking about you to her. She stormed inside, I followed her. I started to do my homework and she was mad at me. She said I did not think she was attractive and I am a guy so I should have... I do not know... Force myself on her? It was all very weird. Then she kissed me." Gaara took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. "I..." Lee didn't know how to explain the rest, his face burned with shame and embarrassment.

"You what, Lee?" Gaara asked quietly, his eyes piercing Lee's.

"... Forgive me, this part is... not very... polite? I do not know how to explain... I kissed her and I did not like it. Kissing her always made me... ill. I remembered earlier that morning when I was with you... I remembered kissing you and the noises you made and the look on your face and... I got excited..." Lee averted his attention, his heart racing with humiliation. "I suppose Sakura thought I was getting excited because she was kissing me. I-I... I let her pull my pants down..." Gaara shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "A-and when... Um..." Lee stumbled on his words, how does one eloquently put this? "W-when I was... in her" Lee winced at the wording but couldn't think of a better way. "I realized that it... it was not you. And I am going to stop here for a moment to tell you that in no way did I do that because I did not think you would sleep with me. I did not use her as a placeholder for you. I hate to even think about how it sounds like I objectified you. I promise you that I would never. Anyway, it happened and it was like 10 seconds and I freaked out and I told her to get off of me and I ran away and it was really shameful and I got in my car and I drove to the mountains where I brought you and I freaked out and I was upset that everything happened. I stayed there for so long that when I finally looked down I saw that I was really late for you and then I freaked out again because I made you wait for me and when I got home and you were there with your beautiful cake and your food and just... you, it hit me that I do not deserve you, Gaara."

"Lee..." Gaara wasn't exactly sure what the story meant to him.

"I do not. And I know that now. I do not deserve you and you are so special and if Itachi is the one who makes you realize that then I am very happy for you." Lee was crying again, saying that broke his heart but he also meant every word. "Just know, Gaara, nothing will change how I feel, okay? Even if you are with Itachi and I am alone for years, I will be here until I am worthy of you. I will better myself and I will become someone who deserves you. Please, do not feel it necessary to respond. I said what I wanted to say. If there is nothing for you to say I understand." Lee grabbed Gaara's hand and looked him dead in the eye. "I want to spend my entire life with you. And if I have to do that being your friend, I will consider myself one of the luckiest men in the world. But if somehow we end up getting married, I will be the luckiest man in the world. If I cannot be the groom at your wedding, I would put all of my effort into being your best man."

Gaara just stared at Lee wide-eyed. He honestly had no response. He didn't even formulate a single word. He just stared at Lee in shock. What do you say to that story and that kind of love declaration? 

"Lee... I-I don't... I'm... I have no idea what to say to that." Lee smiled.

"You do not need to say anything. Just remember these words. They will continue to just be words until I prove them to you, and I intend to." Lee gave one last smile to Gaara and got out of the car.

***

"Hey Itachi!" Temari said happily. "I didn't think I'd see you this early. What brings you in?"

"Just wanted to talk to your brother. I edited some songs for him and I wanted to see if he liked them." Temari tilted her head to the side.

"I didn't think you and Gaara even talked that much." Itachi wanted to laugh at that but remained stoic.

"Yes. Your brother is quite the talented singer. Also I teach him piano." Temari's eyes widened.

"Oh you're his teacher? And really? I never heard Gaara sing before." Itachi frowned, finding that highly unlikely. How did someone with Gaara's voice not sing at home where people could hear him? He was wonderful.

"Yes, I am. Very proud of how quickly he catches on to things. Gaara is a marvelous singer, perhaps he will allow you to listen to the songs we recorded." Itachi glanced up when he saw Gaara walk out of the kitchen. He would never tire of seeing Gaara in his uniform. There was something sexy about a man in uniform but for whatever reason, the chef jacket drove Itachi crazy. "Hello Gaara." Itachi waved and Gaara smiled at him.

"Hey." He walked over and stopped short in front of Itachi and stood kind of awkwardly, not knowing how to greet him, especially with Temari right there. "I made muffin batter last night for you."

"I will be sure to take more than one. You might want to bring one to Sasuke. I believe something happened with Naruto last night. He's been storming around the house like a 4 year old." Gaara nodded.

"Yeah sounds about right." Itachi glanced up.

"Where is Lee?" Gaara looked behind him.

"He's here somewhere. Probably in the bathroom, he did just chug 4 shots of straight espresso." Itachi looked impressed.

"Wow. Why did he do that? All nighter?" Gaara nodded. "Poor guy. You should go easy on him. Shouldn't you be ready for school?"

"Yes mom. I was finishing something. Oh, I listened to the songs last night. You did an awesome job with the instruments. Did you have help?" Itachi smirked and straightened his tie.

"No. I just play a lot of instruments." Gaara gawked.

"Who plays that many instruments?" Itachi laughed. "You're crazy." Itachi gave Gaara a look.

"Yeah. I am." Temari looked at them curiously. There was something going on with them, she could tell. She wondered how innocent it was.

"Where are your glasses?" Itachi frowned.

"I never wear my glasses to work."

"Why not?"

"You've seen my glasses. They're bulky. Why would I wear those out?" The two bickered back and forth for a bit until Lee ran out from the kitchen.

"Are you ready to go!? Let us go to school! Hello Itachi!" Itachi was startled by the loudness of Lee and Gaara shook his head.

"Sorry about him. It's probably the espresso." Gaara apologized.

"Gaara! You are in your uniform! You must go get changed! It is school time!"

"Yes, Lee. I'll be there soon. Go on ahead." Lee nodded and sprinted away. "Jesus, thank god I don't have classes with him today." Itachi laughed. "I'm going to get changed, I'll be right back."

"You want me to wait for you?" Itachi asked mockingly. "My, you must think yourself important."

"I am. And you will." Gaara retorted without turning around and walked into the back.

"So." He heard Temari's voice and turned to face her. Her eyes were a bit narrow.

"What are your intentions with my brother?"

"What do you mean?" Temari rolled her eyes.

"You must think I'm stupid if I couldn't tell that was flirting. I may have been born at night, but not last night." Itachi smiled.

"My intentions with Gaara? I don't have any, per se. I just want what's best for him." Temari nodded with a dangerous look in her eye. "Temari." Itachi said gently. "I would not put Gaara in harm's way, nor would I ever do anything he didn't want to do. You know he's special. And he's special to me too."

"If you do anything to hurt him, I will poison your coffee." She threatened and Itachi smiled.

"And I would drink the entire thing." Before Temari could respond, Gaara came out from the back. "You look like a hot mess."

"Thank you. That's the look I wanted." Gaara put his hat on.

"Did your mommy pick out your clothes?" Itachi taunted and Gaara paused and nodded.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure Kakashi did pick them out. Bye Temari." Gaara waved and Itachi followed Gaara out of the café.

"Would you like a ride to school?" Itachi joked and Gaara shook his head.

"No. I'll walk." Gaara said simply and Itachi frowned.

"You had me wait for you so you could leave?"

"You're more than welcome to walk me if you want." Itachi sighed and motioned for Gaara to proceed.

"You know..." Itachi started when they were mostly at the school. "If I drove you, I could have kissed you. I can't kiss you if we're in the open like this." Gaara looked confused.

"Why not?" It was Itachi's turn to look confused.

"I figured you didn't want to flaunt our relationship." Gaara stopped walking.

"Why wouldn't I?" 

"I don't know. I'm older. Maybe you aren't out at your school yet. I don't know how public you want this to be." Gaara nodded.

"I understand. I'll let you drive me next time. Thank you for walking me." Once they reached the steps to the school, Gaara turned around and looked at Itachi awkwardly. "You're right. You should've driven me."

"Why? Someone want a kiss?" Itachi teased and Gaara shrugged and started walking up the stairs backwards with his hands in his sweater pocket.

"And if I do?" The teasing expression faded into a softer one.

"Then I'm with you there. I'll see you after work. Do well in school." Gaara waved.

"I will if you don't text me through every class." Itachi walked away and chuckled. Yeah, like that would happen.

***

"Naruto! What the fuck?" Sasuke yelled in the hallway once he saw the familiar spikes of blond.

"W-wha? Oh Sasuke. Heh, hey?" Naruto said nervously, Sasuke looked pissed.

"You just disappear and then you don't answer my phone call or my texts when I ask you if you're okay or not? What kind of bullshit is that?" Naruto knew it was wrong but he couldn't really... be around Sasuke right now. Nothing made sense.

"Sorry Sasuke. I... I had a thing. And I have one now. I'll talk to you later." Naruto dashed off and Sasuke watched him run away and just stared in confusion.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke looked up and Sakura was looking at him with concern.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about why Naruto is being weird, would you?" Sakura shook her head.

"I haven't noticed. He seemed fine this morning." Sasuke frowned. "Would you like me to talk to him?"

"Since apparently his problem is with me, he won't tell me. If you could find out, that would be nice. Thanks, Sakura." Sakura smiled and nodded. She walked away to get to class and Sasuke looked up and saw Lee look... dead. His eyes were red, he looked so tired, his hair was all messed up but he was shaking. He looked like a straight up drug addict. "Lee you ok?"

"Yes! I am fine! Gaara and I spent all night at the café getting caught up on things! I am surviving off of several shots of espresso! How are you Sasuke!?" Lee's bug eyes were normally weird but now they were frightening.

"Okay Lee... You need to be at like a 2 and you're at a 15. Tone it down." Lee nodded his head vigorously.

"Hey! Bowl cut!" Lee looked over to see Ino. They hadn't talked much since she smacked him across the face. He deserved it so didn't hold it against her. "Where is my boo?" Lee looked like a mix of awkward, jealous, uncomfortable and resigned. It was an interesting expression.

"Um..." Lee looked over at Sasuke, he sure hoped he knew.

"W-well Itachi stopped by at the café and Gaara told me he would be here soon." Ino looked confused.

"Why would he tell you that and not me?"

"I was with him last night." Ino's eyes widened and Lee blushed furiously. "No! Not like that. Since he was alone last night in the café, I helped him. Then when we were getting ready to leave, Itachi showed up and Gaara said he would catch up."

"So do you think they're dating?" Sasuke asked Lee. Lee looked unsure and shrugged.

"Maybe? I think? If not, your brother is very affectionate with his friends." Lee said and Ino snorted.

"And... you're okay with that?" Sasuke asked Lee and Lee sighed.

"No I am not. But I will get over it. Itachi was there when I made him sad so I am thankful for that. I accept that Gaara is his own person and will make his own decisions. I just hope eventually I will be one of them..." Sasuke looked impressed.

"Wow, Lee. Super mature of you." Lee smiled and nodded.

"Yes I am trying to be. Anyway, how are you doing?" Sasuke scowled.

"Naruto is avoiding me and I don't know why." Ino smirked.

"Did he find out about your crush on him?" Sasuke stiffened and looked at her angrily.

"How the hell did you know?" He hissed and she twirled her hair.

"Literally everyone knows. Except Naruto but he's dumb." Sasuke went to stand up for Naruto but decided that yeah, Naruto is an idiot.

***

"Hey! Naruto!" Naruto looked up and Sakura sat down next to him. "How are you?"

"I'm ok." Sakura frowned, trying her best to make this conversation seem like it wasn't a set up.

"Are you sure? You don't sound okay. Did something happen?" Naruto shrugged. 

"I-I don't know, man." He rubbed the back of his head and stared at the board in front of them in thought.

"You can talk to me if you need to, Naruto. You know that." Sakura insisted softly and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah I know. Thanks Sakura. It's just... weird. Something happened and I don't know what to make of it. I'm not sure that I should talk about it either." Sakura frowned.

"That doesn't sound very healthy, Naruto. If something happened to you, you have the right to talk about it if it makes you feel uncomfortable. That's just my opinion, anyway." Naruto nodded.

"Yeah I know, it's just... I found something out in a way I shouldn't have and if I were to tell someone I'd feel... I don't know? Wrong? I guess." Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Yeah of course. I know you didn't do whatever you did to start rumors though. So if you want to tell me that's okay. If not, that's okay too." Naruto smiled weakly.

"Thanks, Sakura. I'll let you know once I've thought about it more." Sakura nodded and waited in silence for the lesson to start.

***

"I can't believe they're selling tickets for Senior Prom already. Like, it's in April. It isn't even February yet." Gaara sighed.

"What? Ohhh. You're still a Junior. You can go to Junior Ball!" Ino said with a smile. "That's almost as nice."

"Yeah, let me go to Junior ball by myself while all of my friends, seniors, go to senior prom." 

"Yeah... I get you. What if you went as one of our dates? We could get you in." Ino offered and Gaara shrugged.

"I don't know what the purpose would be. Isn't Senior Prom where you go with your boyfriend or girlfriend? What if all of you get dates and I'm all alone?" Ino shook her head.

"No, honey. You won't be alone. I won't let you. Plus, I'm fairly certain if you went, Lee would not leave your side the entire time." Ino looked up surprised as Sasuke plopped down at their table in the library. "Hi?"

"Sorry. Naruto is still weird. Gaara, you were over last night, did you hear anything?" Gaara pondered.

"When I was in the kitchen I heard him run downstairs and leave the house like there was a murderer behind him. I checked. There was no murderer." Sasuke looked annoyed.

"I don't know what's going on then! We fought because he said I needed a boyfriend so I went to take a shower, next thing I know he left and he won't answer me." Ino pouted.

"Aw, Sasuke. I'm sorry your boyfriend is ignoring you. You're still cute." Sasuke glared.

"You left Naruto unattended in your bedroom? Could there have been anything he could've found that was not meant to be found?" Gaara asked and Sasuke went to say no then thought. 

"How would he have found it..." Sasuke whispered to himself.

"Gay porn?" Ino asked curiously and Sasuke blushed and glared at her.

"No! None of your business. Now I have to go home and check." Gaara looked up and saw Sakura and Naruto were sitting at the usual table, Lee was nowhere to be seen.

"Could Sakura find out?" Sasuke sighed.

"She said she tried and Naruto didn't tell her."

"What about Lee?"

"Maybe? But Lee is bouncing off the wall today. He decided to run the track for a bit just to get some energy out." Gaara chuckled at the thought.

"I told him to stop after two shots of espresso. He wanted to drink four." Ino grabbed Gaara's hand and looked at him very seriously in the eye.

"Did he immediately shit his pants?" Gaara covered his mouth and closed his eyes tightly trying not to make a strange noise that would've been a laugh. He didn't want to laugh in the library. The librarian would kick them out.

"You're such a lady." Sasuke commented, smirking.

"Well, someone needed to be the man at this table. If it had to be me, so be it." Gaara's phone started buzzing. "Oh! Is that Itachi?" She asked excitedly and grabbed Gaara's phone, putting the password pattern and clicking on his messages.

"Yes Ino. Please read my texts." Gaara said flatly but made no attempt to take the phone from her. There was nothing that Ino would find that she didn't already know about. That was the definition of having a female best friend.

"Aw, I was really hoping it was going to be a sexy picture." Sasuke looked ill. "Don't worry, Sasuke. It isn't. It broke my heart but it's just a text with a picture of a muffin."

"That sounds about right." Gaara took his phone back. "What should I respond with?"

"Ooo! Take a picture of Sasuke's face." Sasuke scowled and Gaara bit his lip.

"No. I don't need to start that up with Itachi again." Ino was confused. "Ugh... Apparently Itachi tried to set Sasuke and I up." Sasuke's face turned red.

"Yeah he did..." He muttered and crossed his arms.

"Aw, Sasuke. You missed out." Ino hugged Gaara with one arm. Suddenly, Lee was sitting at their table. Gaara was extremely confused, he didn't even notice him come in.

"Hello! What are we talking about?" Lee asked and Ino smiled.

"How cute Sasuke and Gaara would be if they got ~married~!" Sasuke groaned and hit his head on the table.

"Oh? I think my dad is an ordained minister. You will just need parental consent because Gaara is not 18. I am sure Kakashi will sign." Gaara glared at Lee.

"Thanks. I'm still not interested. No offence, Sasuke," Sasuke shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "Hey Lee, Naruto is acting weird with Sasuke. You know why?" Lee looked concerned.

"No. But I will ask if you would like me to." Lee said to Gaara like Gaara would give the permission instead of Sasuke.

"Don't make it obvious. Like don't go over there right now. I don't think you'd want to anyway, Sakura is there with Naruto." Ino said and Lee shrugged.

"I do not have a problem with Sakura. She may have one with me but, bygones." Lee said easily. "So before Gaara and Sasuke were getting married, what was everyone talking about?"

"Prom." Ino said simply and Lee nodded. "Gaara was sad because he can't go because he's a Junior." Lee sat up so straight so quick it damn near gave everyone whiplash.

"Gaara if you want to go you can be my date!" Lee was hushed angrily by the librarian and winced, turning pink. "Sorry..." He whispered and the librarian glared and walked away.

"I told you Lee would offer." Sasuke raised his eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't Gaara be your date, Ino?" 

"Gaara knows. There's a super hot guy at a different school. I can't have two dates."

"You'd pick a super hot guy over your best friend?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"No. Gaara told me to. I told him we could find someone to invite him and then we could all go together! He didn't believe me. Poor thing is a junior and none of us will be here for his Senior Prom." Ino stuck out her lower lip in a cutesy pout.

"You are right!" Lee was now super emotional about everything. "Gaara you should come with me. We should all go to prom together. I would love these memories for all of us on our final youthful High School adventure."

"Lee... You're at like 17 and you should be at like 2." Sasuke said quietly. 

"I'll think about it..." Gaara responded softly. Lee nodded.

"I understand if you cannot go but I will be here for you if you do want to go. You are our friend and you should not be left alone on such an amazing night! Please tell me soon, the tickets are on sale next week and only for next week. Okay?" Gaara nodded and Lee smiled happily. Gaara shook his head with a fond smile. Lee was such a dork sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TO ALL OF MY COMMENTERS I NEED YOUR HELP**  
>  Okay, so we all know what Lee is going to school for. I need to know your thoughts on the other characters. (I already decided on what Gaara is doing.) I feel like maybe Sasuke should go for languages?  
> Also, I need help making these characters have more depth. We all know what some characters are good at, but I need what they're bad at too! I feel weird being like "Gaara can bake and cook and sing and play piano and there's nothing he can't do" because that isn't believable. This is what we know about the characters thus far:  
>  **Gaara** : CAN- Cook, Bake, Sing, Write songs, play music by ear, he is a straight A student. What he is bad at? IDFK  
>  **Lee** CAN- very athletic, black belt, sings well, good student. Bad at? Cooking.  
>  **Sasuke** : CAN- speak multiple languages, (probably) valedictorian or salutatorian, soccer team captain, martial arts. Bad at? Idfk, getting Naruto to notice him I guess.  
>  **Itachi** : CAN- play a dumb amount of instruments, can sing, act (we will find this out later), good at editing.  
>  **Kakashi** : Not sure if I wrote this somewhere but Kakashi is an editor for a publishing company, that's why he's always reading. so he has a degree in english. he does martial arts.  
>  **Guy** : Guy is a physical trainer (with how crazy he is might be for the fuckin' marines at this point), martial arts.  
>  **Naruto** : I literally don't know.  
>  **Ino** : being a bomb ass friend??
> 
> Okay that's everyone I think. If you have an idea of something they're good at or bad at, let me know. I'd love to bring out their worst sides in the story too! Thank you everyone! Enjoy!


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uhm. Let's see...
> 
> Gaara Itachi interaction  
> Gaara Ino interaction  
> Gaara Lee interaction  
> Sasuke Naruto interaction  
> Sasuke Itachi interaction  
> Gaara Kankuro interaction  
> Temari Shikamaru argument  
> Gaara, Lee, Sasuke, Itachi interaction  
> This chapter has it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Well I used the Gaara not reaching thing. And Naruto being a teacher is cute I like it. I'll find out what they can't do eventually.  
>  **Rae** : Real quick, so the few people who have avatars I think of their avatar when I'm reading or responding to a message and I can't emotionally handle your avatar without laughing because everytime I respond to your comments I have to look at it and it's like the weird kermit thing is talking to me. lmao. Anyway, that's good. I want Gaara to gain a bit of muscle in college but I don't want him to be jacked like Lee is going to be. Considering Gaara in the show just stands there and walks like an old ass man, I can see it. If I were a ninja I'd want to have Gaara's ability. I wouldn't have to fuckin move. Anyway, I would love to include that bit about Sasuke, thats good too. I brought back temari and shikamaru briefly in this chapter. I don't have much for them to do right now but they are in my timeline to get married May 2019. (In the story right now its 2018 and I have up until March 2020 planned out. I have issues.) But I'm pretty sure Itachi IS a millenial. Isn't he? I think the cut off is like age 32 or some shit idk.  
>  **Leah** : Thank you! I love writing Lee hyped up on caffeine. Naruto will continue being a dumbass for a bit. He'll come around! The sand sibs' relationship will get better, I promise! I can't wait to write prom! So happy!  
>  **Lola** : I could see that. She likes making Gaara suffer. Oh man, Ino should paint Itachi's nails (Aren't they painted in the show??)  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Listen, you have your sins, I have mine lmao. My husband told me I had a problem. It is... 1:34am right now and I'm about to post another chapter. I'm just incredibly bored and like I said before there's another 2 years planned out for this story and I just have to do it. But if you want I'll update more slowly for you ;) I didn't think about Gaara with social work, that's sweet. Yeah looks like the vote for Naruto is unanimous for working with kiddies. Lee is bae. He's a bit... more like a teenage boy in this chapter but he's still pure. Yeah I changed their scene a lot. Originally it was going to be longer (maybe even a pregnancy scare just to fuck with everyone) but I couldn't do it in the end. I couldn't make him suffer. I love him too much.  
>  **uurahara** : Thank you! Isn't he? I love Itachi. They'll continue to get closer and talk more. Even when Lee goes off to college *single man tear* There will be more NaruSasu drama. I have it all planned out on my timeline.

Chapter Thirty-Two:

The thought came to Gaara one afternoon while in the midst of making out with Itachi. It wasn't anything extra, just light kisses turning into more passionate kisses. The couch arm was digging into Gaara's mid back and Itachi was hovering over Gaara for once. Gaara's legs were wrapped around Itachi's waist and his arms were wrapped around his neck. Itachi had one hand on the couch arm for balance and one hand tangled in Gaara's hair. 

For some reason, Itachi seemed more into it today. Not that he wasn't into it before, he was just more... aggressive today. Gaara didn't mind too much, he stayed a gentleman and didn't move his hands where Gaara would be uncomfortable. Gaara shifted under Itachi and brushed against his groin and Itachi let out a shuttering moan. Itachi's eyes quickly opened and he climbed off of Gaara, looking uncomfortable.

"Are you ok?" Gaara asked with half lidded eyes. Itachi almost climbed back on top of him to recapture those gorgeous lips in a kiss. 

"Sorry Gaara. I need to stop." Gaara frowned and sat in a more comfortable position.

"Why?" Itachi glanced at Gaara, who's eyes were wide with innocence and he fully came to the realization how truly naive Gaara was. 

"Gaara, have you ever touched yourself? Sexually?" Gaara shook his head.

"The thought never crossed my mind. I found the act of sexual things to be... repulsive." Itachi nodded.

"So you've never experienced an orgasm?" A shake of his head. "What about a boner, have you had one of those?" Gaara nodded.

"Sometimes when I wake up I have one. I just ignore it and it goes away." Itachi smiled at him. He wished he didn't have such dirty thoughts about Gaara but he was so pure and so... corruptible. 

"That makes sense. You told me you thought you were asexual?" Gaara agreed. "Well, I'm not. And you are very... sexy." The way Itachi looked at him made Gaara feel like he was sexy. "You're getting me too excited and it isn't that I can't control myself, I can. I'm just very uncomfortable." Gaara looked down at Itachi's lap and noticed the bulge. 

"How can I help?" Gaara asked with such purity, it was sweet.

"Um. Gaara, if you're uncomfortable with it, you don't need to deal with it. I'll be fine." Gaara looked at him curiously.

"Will something bad happen if you don't... take care of it? Or will it just go away?" Itachi shrugged.

"It depends, I guess. Sometimes it can make people irritable, or just annoyingly horny. Some people can get over it. Some people get stressed out. So honestly it depends." Gaara looked thoughtful.

"If I don't take care of it, would you?" Itachi laughed at the irony of such an innocent tone asking such a vulgar question.

"Uh, sometimes. If you get me really worked up." 

"Is there any visual stimulant of some sort?" Gaara asked the weirdest fucking questions...

"Honestly, I've been reliving making out with you. Usually does the trick." Gaara colored.

"You think of me?"

"Um, yeah. Does that bother you?" Gaara shook his head.

"No I'm just surprised is all."

"Why?"

"I didn't think I was desirable enough to cause someone to have that reaction." Itachi looked at Gaara with interest.

"How does that make you feel?" Gaara smirked at the question.

"I can't explain it. I'm not upset. I suppose I'm... proud?" Itachi chuckled and pulled Gaara on his lap. "I thought you were uncomfortable."

"I can handle a few more kisses. You're just too cute."

Which is why Gaara found himself in his bedroom with Ino explaining his thought process.

"Oh you want to send him sexy pictures? I totally get that. Plus, with Valentine's Day this month you gotta be romantic and shit, right? What's more romantic than a dick pic?" Gaara frowned at her.

"I don't want to send a completely naked picture." Ino grinned and looked through his closet. "What are you doing?"

"Well, you want to send him sexy pictures. I happen to know what he thinks the sexiest thing you wear is." She yanked out his chef jacket.

"Seriously?" Ino nodded. "How do you know that?" Ino shrugged.

"You should see the way he eye fucks you when you wear this. It's totally obvious. Anyway, put it on. Imma bout to be your photographer. I can get some bomb pictures." Again, this is what having a female best friend is like.

Gaara put on his chef jacket and Ino took his phone.

"Okay, sit on the bed, I'm going to play with your hair." Ino tugged on his hair in odd angles.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm giving you sex hair. Duh." She stated like it was obvious. She also unbuttoned the top button and folded it back so Gaara's collar bones were visible. Ino shut off the ceiling light and turned on a lamp and angled it in a way that would give her the perfect mood lighting. "Alright, lean back on your elbows... Good. Tilt your head to the side. A bit more. Open your mouth a bit. Come on, give me a sexy look... You call that a sexy look? Come on Gaara, you couldn't even turn Lee on with that expression." Gaara blushed and looked up at the camera so doe eyed and Ino took a picture. "Not what I was aiming for but he'll like it."

After 30 minutes, several lighting and outfit changes, and a stupid amount of pictures later, Gaara and Ino sat in the bed and went through each picture. Ino downloaded an editing app just to change the hues and tones of the pictures. In one she made everything black and white but his eyes and his tattoo.

"Wow! I can't believe we have 15 good pictures!" Ino said excitedly. Gaara deleted most of the pictures they took which she expected because she did the same thing.

"Yes out of the 100 we took, at least 15 looked decent." Ino gave him a side eye and clicked on all of the images she wanted to send. "What should I say? Here's 15 pictures of me being self indulgent?" Ino scoffed.

"Shut up Gaara. I got this."

_In case you want to stop using your imagination <3   
[15 images attached]_

"Good?" Gaara shrugged but was blushing. Ino looked up at him and frowned.

"You know, I'm being a good friend right now..." She lectured as she scrolled through the list of people to find Itachi's name. "Where is Itachi?"

"He changed his name in my phone to Lover. Don't ask why." Gaara said with a resigned sigh.

"Oh. Ok. Anyway, I'm being a damn good friend-" Ino hit a name and clicked send. "-and you don't appreciate my efforts." MESSAGE SENT "And I just don't think that's-NO!" Ino say up so quickly she hit her head into Gaara's.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" Gaara hissed, rubbing his forehead. Ino's mouth hung open and at the same time she was trying not to laugh but she looked really mortified. "What...?"

"Um... Don't be mad." Gaara stiffened on the bed and snatched the phone.

_Lee_  
SENT at 7:38pm  
In case you want to stop using your imagination <3  
[15 images attached]  
DELIVERED at 7:38pm 

"INO!" Ino bit her lip and shrunk away from Gaara. His face was such a bright red and it went down his neck and on his shoulders. Gaara covered his face in indignity. "What the fuck do I do now..." Ino jumped out of the bed and ran across the hall. She burst into Lee's room and Lee jerked his head up, his face red.

"Um. I do not believe these were for me." On the plus side, Lee was adorable when he was embarrassed.

"If we could never speak of this again, that would be awesome." Ino said and Lee nodded stiffly. Ino walked into the room and in a low voice said, "I know you aren't going to delete those, so if anyone else sees them I will end your life." Lee nodded quickly.

"O-of course. I promise." Ino smirked at him. "What?"

"I knew you weren't going to delete them." She walked out of the room and away from the sputtering Lee. "Don't worry Gaara, he won't keep them in his messages." Which wasn't a lie, he would probably keep them in a passcode protected folder if he was smart.

"I'm way too embarrassed to even try and send these to Itachi now..." Gaara sighed and Ino picked up his phone.

"I'm not." And she sent them to the correct person this time.

It took all of one minute and seventeen seconds for Gaara's phone to ring.

"Yes?"

"...I don't even know what to say." Gaara looked even more embarrassed, thankfully Itachi couldn't see him.

"Do you not like them?"

"Oh I absolutely love them. I'm excited to use them later." Gaara's face flushed and he laughed awkwardly. "My only question is, who took them?"

"Who do you think would waste 30 minutes of my time taking these pictures for you?"

"Oh. Tell Ino I said thank you." Ino grabbed the phone.

"No problem, if you want to send pictures in return-" Gaara snatched the phone.

"Ignore her." Ino sighed.

Eventually the two hung up the phone and not even 5 minutes later Gaara's phone vibrated and Ino picked it up lazily and clicked on the message. Instantly she shot up from the bed and made a noise similar to what Gaara assumed a pterodactyl would make. He sat up with her and she clicked on the first picture.

Itachi took the picture in his bathroom mirror which oddly enough took up a whole wall. He was shirtless and lean with muscle, his hair was down, his glasses were on and he had pajama pants that rode down low on his hips. Ino could not get over the trail of hair that led down from his belly button. Gaara just stared at the picture in awe. Usually he found naked bodies to be... unattractive. Itachi's though... Gaara was pretty sure he had the world's most perfect body and face.

"Oh my god. Oh my god." Ino covered her mouth bouncing on the bed excitedly. "Your boyfriend is so hot I'm going to die. I'm sorry Gaara, but he's seriously the hottest guy I've ever seen in my fucking life." Gaara furrowed his brow.

"He isn't my boyfriend." Ino looked at him confused.

"What do you mean? Of course he is." She insisted and Gaara tilted his head to the side.

"He said we were exclusive, he didn't say we were official." Ino paused for a minute and frowned.

"Well that doesn't make any sense." Gaara shrugged and Ino gave Gaara the phone back.

"Well, I have to go. Mainly to go to church because I need to repent for my sins. Anyway, love you, have fun with your lover." Ino kissed Gaara's cheek and gathered her things and left.

She came back in a minute later and grabbed Gaara's phone, pressed a few buttons then left again.

When Gaara looked, he noticed he had a new background.

***

Lee knew the pictures weren't meant for him. In a way he was jealous, but here he was, with these pictures in his phone. He should delete them. He didn't think he could. Lee didn't get through all of them. He looked at the first 4 and his body was so excited and on high alert he couldn't concentrate.

Why was Gaara so beautiful? Lee stayed on his favorite picture. Gaara laying down on the pillows with his hair splayed out behind him looking like a fire compared to his white pillow. His eyes looked like they were just opening and still somehow, they were so bright. The aqua color seemed to contrast so well on the dark circles around his eyes.

Lee was certain he could remember that look for the rest of his life even if he deleted the picture. He laid down in bed and just stared at it. Gaara's eyes looking back at him.

"You are so perfect, Gaara." He whispered and cursed himself when he looked at the side of the bed Gaara used to sleep on. He yearned for the ability to turn back time just so he could feel what it was like to kiss Gaara and hold him. It was strange that he had a relationship end, but he felt more heartbreak over Gaara.

Lee knew it was wrong but maybe if he looked at the pictures with a... clean mind, he would be able to delete them. Maybe he was just so pent up with sexual frustration. There was only one way to find out...

***

Gaara sat in homeroom when members of the student council walked in and he groaned internally. It was the Valentine's Day fundraiser where people gave money to the student council and on Valentine's Day they would go around the school handing out carnations and sappy love letters. Gaara had a few dollars on him which is the only reason he decided to send some. He sent one to Ino.

_I hope your day is going to be as terrible as mine.  
Gaara_

And he sent one to Lee.

_Happy Valentine's Day Lee. Here's to hoping Guy doesn't cry over something nice Kakashi said today._  
Gaara

***

"Gaara!" Gaara looked up and saw Lee running towards him. "Oh thank goodness I have found you. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to prom or not. Today is the last day for tickets." 

When Gaara brought up the fact that Lee and Ino asked him to go to prom, he didn't know what he expected Itachi to say. Itachi just smiled and said "I hope you have fun with your friends." And then they made out.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm going. I forgot to take out money though." Lee smiled at him.

"No. It is on me. You are my date after all. Okay, I will see you later. Bye!" And Lee ran off again.

***

"Naruto, it's been a week. What is going on?" Sasuke didn't even sound angry anymore, just exhausted.

"Oh. Sasuke. Um. Nothing. How have you been, man?" Sasuke looked up at Naruto pathetically.

"I'm really not in the mood for this, Naruto. You've been avoiding me all week and I want to know why. Did I piss you off because I said I didn't want a boyfriend? Are you mad I didn't tell you who it was? Well, I'm not sorry. I have my reasons for why I did that-"

"You like me, Sasuke." Naruto cut in with a strangely somber expression on his face. Sasuke turned red in an instant.

"W-what?" Naruto sighed and sat down.

"I was curious and I just wanted what was best for you. So I thought if I found out who you liked, I could help you two get together and you would be happy. So you took a shower and... I went through your things... I went to the bookshelf and saw all of your school books and I knew you didn't take trig and..." Naruto trailed off and looked up at Sasuke.

Sasuke was clenching his teeth with tears in his eyes with a face flushed with embarrassment.

"You... you went through my personal things and then... ignored me because you found out something you didn't like? What kind of friend are you?" Naruto was surprised. He expected Sasuke to deck him in the face. Instead Sasuke was clenching his fists in front of him with tears in his eyes. Naruto knew he messed up, he just didn't know what to say about it.

"Yeah I know what I did was wrong. I just wanted to help you be happy." Naruto said with a frown.

"Happy? You've humiliated me. I've been begging you all week to tell me what was wrong and you let it happen. You've made me lose sleep thinking of what I could've done to upset you so bad you ignored me for a week and it turns out that all I did was like you? That's where you draw the line? I can insult you, say you're a loser and I hate you and everything is fucking perfectly fine but when I admit to myself in my private notebook that I don't actually hate you or think you're a loser that's when I lose you? Are you kidding me? Forget it, Naruto. I'm going home. Have fun ignoring me." Sasuke practically sprinted out of the school and Naruto stood in the hallway helplessly.

Sasuke was thankful for the first time that Itachi drove him to school that day because that meant he would be picking him up and more than anything he needed his older brother. The only bad thing was Gaara. Not that Gaara was a bad thing, but sometimes someone needs to just talk to their older brother.

When he finally got to the student pickup area, he saw Itachi's truck and ran over to it. He opened the passenger door and got in the car, surprised there was no Gaara.

"If you're looking for Gaara, you just missed him. He has work today. Are you alright?" Sasuke shook his head and bit both cheeks. "Naruto again?" Sasuke nodded. "Did you find out what was wrong with him?" Another nod.

"He went through my stuff, found my journal and found out I liked him. Then he worried me by ignoring me all week and he doesn't even care. Why should I care? Why do I care about a fucking idiot like him?" Itachi sighed.

"We don't pick who we fall in love with, Sasuke. You've had this crush for how long now?" Sasuke sighed but thought about it.

"I don't know... three years? Four?" Itachi seemed impressed.

"You liked him for that long and he didn't notice? You must be shit at flirting." Sasuke laughed despite his teary eyes.

"Yeah, I've been told." 

"It's Friday. Why don't we go see a movie or something? That'll get your mind off of him for a bit, right?" Sasuke shrugged and Itachi headed towards Sasuke's favorite movie theatre.

***

Gaara was going to kill himself. If he had to deal with his sister and Shikamaru for 3 more seconds, he was throwing himself off a cliff. Ino wasn't going to be there for another hour and he had to deal with domestic disputes. What the hell were they arguing about anyway?

Kankuro came into the back with a bar stool and set it up next to Gaara's work bench and he sat down.

"Hello, Kankuro. What brings you back here?" Kankuro gave him a blank expression. "You too, huh? Have they been like that all day?" A nod. "Fun."

"I'm going to throw myself off of a cliff." Gaara smiled slightly.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Oh, it's because you're my mini me." He said simply and Gaara raised a brow. "You are. We have the same hair and eye shape. Just because you're too extra to have brown hair and black eyes doesn't mean we don't look alike. If someone took a picture of us in black and white they would know we were brothers and that you are my mini me." Kankuro explained easily. Gaara looked intrigued and Kankuro took out his phone and put the black and white filter on and stood next to Gaara. He tried to mimic Gaara's normal expression and took the selfie of them standing side by side. Gaara took the phone into his hands and tilted his head thoughtfully.

"Huh. I didn't realize we looked so much alike." Kankuro nodded and took his phone back and sat down. 

"Anyway, I heard about Itachi. I'm sorry we don't talk much but I thought you were in love with Lee for the longest time." Gaara's expression faltered briefly.

"I was. There was drama." Kankuro continued to look at him waiting for more. Gaara sighed. "Long story short, he got a girlfriend and I wasn't happy. Then you remember the Christmas party... Then they broke up and I had Itachi. So just bad timing." Kankuro nodded.

"That sucks. Good on you for scoring Itachi. Temari thought he was the hottest guy in the world." Gaara chuckled.

"So does Ino. But to be fair, I'm pretty sure he is the most handsome guy in the world." Kankuro purred at Gaara and Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Isn't Ino supposed to be here today?" Gaara nodded.

"Yeah, why?" Kankuro shrugged with a grin.

"Nothin. She's pretty hot though, right?" Gaara frowned at the thought. Ino was not hot. She was pretty.

"Listen, I said I was sorry." Shikamaru said as Temari pushed open the kitchen doors with a murderous look. Shikamaru continued to follow her. "Why are you so angry?"

"I'm going home. I'll see everyone later." And Temari grabbed her things from the bathroom and stormed out.

"Ugh. What a drag." Shikamaru rubbed his face. "That woman is so troublesome. I can't deal with her sometimes."

"I feel the exact same way about her." Gaara stared at Kankuro.

"Funny. I feel the exact same way about you."

"Wow. You aren't allowed to hang out with Itachi anymore. You're getting sassy." Shikamaru suddenly wasn't bothered by Temari, he looked at Gaara with interest.

"Oh yes, tell us more about Itachi." The kitchen door opened and Gaara would've shot himself had he had a gun.

"Are we talking about Itachi?" Ino asked with a grin.

"I hate my life and everyone in it..."

***

Itachi was there at the end of the night to pick up Gaara. Gaara already talked to Kakashi about spending the night at the Uchiha estate. Normally this would call for questioning, but Lee was going over too. Kakashi didn't think twice about Gaara going over for anything but Sasuke and Lee.

Gaara climbed into the truck and Itachi leaned over the center console to give him a hello kiss. Gaara kissed him with a smile and they drove to Itachi's house. The whole ride wasn't more than 10 minutes, but for whatever reason, Gaara was so fatigued the ride seemed like an eternity. 

Almost cheering by the time Itachi pulled into the driveway, Gaara quickly jumped out of the car and Itachi checked him out. He was still wearing his chef uniform and Itachi wondered if he knew and was doing it on purpose or not.

When Gaara pushed open the doors and walked inside, he went to the kitchen to get a drink. Itachi made sure they were stocked up on pineapple and orange juice considering the amount Gaara went through. Gaara stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Sasuke and Lee sitting in the kitchen.

Itachi was in the kitchen next and he smiled and waved.

"Oh, hello Lee. Are you staying the night?" Lee nodded as he ate his ice cream. "Wonderful. Sasuke, did you feed the dog?" Sasuke nodded. "Good. Thank you. Do you have plans for tomorrow?" As Itachi was talking to them, Gaara got his large cup of a mixture of mostly orange juice with a splash of pineapple juice ready. He walked over to the snack cabinet and opened it and immediately looking at Itachi with a scowl. He could tell Itachi knew he was looking at him based on the smile he was trying to hide.

"Itachi!" Gaara hissed and Itachi started laughing. "Don't be a dick."

"Sorry. You're just short and it's fun to mess with you." Gaara glared at him and Itachi walked over and grabbed the tortilla chips.

"Do you still have the salsa I made?" Gaara asked and Sasuke's head snapped up.

"You made that? Oh my god, that stuff was magical. The best salsa I ever had. What did you put in it?" Gaara smiled.

"Honey and barbeque sauce." Sasuke blinked and Itachi pulled out the two quart cambro of salsa from the fridge and put it on the counter. Gaara spooned some in a bowl and handed the cambro back.

"I still can't believe you made me buy fuckin' cambros." Gaara ignored him and grabbed his bowl, chips and cup.

"I'm going to watch American Horror Story. Bye." And Gaara left the kitchen. Itachi shook his head and closed the cabinets that Gaara left open, probably on purpose. 

"Goodnight." Itachi waved to them and left after Gaara. Lee looked at Sasuke, trying really hard to mask his sadness.

"Gaara is spending the night?" Sasuke nodded. "Has he done this before?" Another nod. "They're getting pretty serious I guess..." Lee said after a sharp inhale of breath. Sasuke didn't want to agree with that. Lee probably didn't want someone to agree with him anyway.

***

Gaara was in Itachi's pajamas after he took a shower. Itachi wasn't happy because he loved Gaara's chef uniform, but he was cute in pajamas too. Lee liked his pajamas baggy, Itachi didn't. That didn't mean the sleeves were too long for his arms and the pants weren't too long for his legs.

Feeling relaxed after a nice shower, Gaara laid in bed on Itachi's side and they watched... whatever the hell came on after American Horror Story. They weren't really paying attention, just kind of zoned out. Itachi decided that he was bored so poked Gaara's side. Gaara flinched and looked up at Itachi who then covered his mouth with a kiss. It didn't take too long for Itachi to pull away, flustered and heavily breathing. Gaara looked down and noticed when Itachi wore pajamas, his erection was a lot more visible. Gaara suddenly was struck with curiosity.

"Show me." He whispered and Itachi looked at him confused. "Show me. I want to learn." Itachi slowly but his thumb under the lip of his pants and gave Gaara another look making sure that he was certain it's what he wanted to do. Gaara nodded again and Itachi pulled his pants down enough for his cock to spring out of his pants. Gaara looked at it with concentration. Itachi's looked so much different than his own. "Interesting."

"What did you want me to do?" Itachi asked with a wince, Gaara looking at him like that was more exciting than he thought it would be.

"Take care of it." Itachi stared at Gaara surprised and Gaara looked him in the eye watching his every expression. Gaara didn't watch Itachi touch himself, just his expressions on his face. They were beautiful. Not faked or over exaggerated. Gaara kissed him and Itachi kissed back fervently. Gaara felt the movement in Itachi's arm quicken and Itachi moaned and whimpered into Gaara's mouth, his body relaxing completely. Gaara pulled away and looked at the expression Itachi had now. His face was tranquil and tired. There was slight coloring in his cheeks, his heartbeat was erratic and he was breathing heavily. "Do you feel better now?" Itachi nodded weakly and Gaara smiled at him. "Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm reading the GaaLee fanfic Forever and a Bit (anyone else??) and I love that story so much I literally got like butterflies in my stomach when I read there was an update. Is that how y'all feel when I update this? I've never been so fucking excited about a story before. Jesus, I need to get my working papers, all I do is write and read fanfiction. 
> 
> Valentine's Day should be next chapter! What are your wishes to see on Valentine's Day? Who should send who carnations? What should the letters say?
> 
> Also, who should the hot guy Ino wants to take to prom be? I honestly haven't a clue and it's going to be Neji if I can't figure out someone else.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VALENTINES DAY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : Thanks I try.  
>  **Rae** : That'll happen a lot with the two! ;) I took that idea btw. Sai! I forgot about him. I honestly didn't watch the show with him. I just kind of update myself on the storyline occasionally. It's been a while since I watched it. So I honestly don't know anything about his personality, only what he fights like  
>  **uurahara** : Aww you're comment was so sweet! Thank you! It made my day! I hope I continue to capture your mind with this story!  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Noo don't stop. It's only just getting good!  
>  **maridoll** : Haha thank you for your comment! I'm glad to see you've joined us! I hope you continue to enjoy the ride. KibaIno is interesting. Perhaps for later, it was already mentioned Kiba goes to their school though!  
>  **RainiDayz** : That's a great idea! I love that! And I could see Naruto "Yeah I'm going to college to be president." "President? Of college?" "No of the United States" "Naruto you can't go to school for that."   
> **Luna_Lilly** : Aw I'm so happy! We have matching shirts! That's literally the cutest comment ever thank you for that. Forever and a Bit is great and I die every time Gaara and Lee talk about each other. The writer could be like "Gaara remembered Lee" and I'd be like "!!!!! MAH OTP"

Chapter Thirty-Three:

Ino noticed Gaara chewing on his pen instead of working on his homework which was rare for him in studyhall. She kicked him under the table and he looked up at her confused. This also gathered the attention from Lee and Sasuke who all sat at the same table in the library. Since Sasuke and Naruto's falling out, they hadn't spoken in over a week. This meant that Sasuke was almost always with them instead which drove Sakura off the wall crazy.

"Stop thinking so hard. Jesus. What is on your mind?" Gaara looked up at her innocently.

"Porn." He said simply and the expressions of everyone at the table was priceless. "Specifically why people watch it. I was always confused about it since I found it so repulsive. I couldn't imagine someone actually enjoyed watching it. Do you know why?"

"Um, well some people watch it because they're very visual and they need it as a stimulant. It's more common with guys since they're more visual creatures, but girls watch it too sometimes." Ino explained and Gaara made a thoughtful expression.

"Do you?" He asked and she laughed.

"Depends on who I'm with." She winked. "What about you, Sasuke?" Sasuke's face turned red and he wanted so badly to not be at the table. "Do you watch?"

"I am not answering that..." He looked away embarrassed and Ino smirked.

"That's a yes. What about you, Lee?" Lee noticed the look of interest on Gaara's face. His face heated up instantly.

"I-I mean... I knew it existed. I wasn't really interested in watching random people have sex though." Ino tapped her lips in thought.

"What do you jerk off to then?" Lee tensed up and his face turned an even darker shade of red.

"I-I..." He scratched his head and looked anywhere but Ino and especially Gaara.

"Okay so he's avoiding eye contact. This means either pictures of me or you, Gaara." Ino joked and Sasuke started laughing at how uncomfortable Lee was getting.

"Pictures of me?" Gaara asked confused. "I never took pictures with a sexual nature with Lee before. How would that even be enjoyable?" Lee covered his face while him and Ino discussed his apparent masturbation habits. Sasuke patted him on the back comfortingly.

"Well honey, you're forgetting about my slip up first of all. I'd be surprised if he put them down all week." Ino teased and Lee just wanted to die and transport himself into a different dimension. "But second of all, you don't exactly need sexual pictures of someone. I mean, if someone turns you on enough I'm pretty sure you can use their picture from their cousins birthday party from 2 years ago in Miami at a local Chuck-E-Cheese." Gaara looked at Ino seriously.

"That sounded way too specific. Are you okay?" Ino rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine. He wasn't even that good looking anyway. Come on Sasuke, you should say something to save Lee from embarrassment. I'm pretty sure we killed him. Do you jerk off to pictures of Naruto?" Sasuke looked at her so quickly and shushed her that he almost fell from his chair.

"Naruto is like 8 feet away!" Sasuke harshly whispered.

"To be fair Lee and Gaara are a foot apart and that didn't stop me."

"Let's just change the topic. I'm pretty sure I got some form of an answer in my head." Ino pouted at the topic change but didn't object. Lee thanked every god he ever heard of and tried to become a person again to join the conversation.

***

On Valentine's Day, Gaara sat in homeroom filled with people he really didn't care about. That's when a student council member walked in with a basket of flowers and began passing it out.

Not only were people surprised that Gaara received flowers, but they were surprised to see a box of Roseshire roses was placed neatly on his desk and then two carnations. To be fair, he was super confused too. He looked at the first carnation, it was red.

_Hey Boo! I love you! Happy Valentine's Day! I hope it is EVERYTHING I want (cause you're a lame-o) and more~!  
The greatest addition to your life ever,  
Ino_

Gaara shook his head and picked up the next flower, which was blue.

_Happy Valentines Day, Gaara! I hope we do not have to see Kakashi say something sappy today, I cannot handle dad crying again because Kakashi actually said he loved him too.  
Rock Lee_

Gaara chuckled and put the flowers off to the side and looked at the Roseshire box. He never heard of Roseshire before but it looked fancy. The outside of the box was the outline of the enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast and the side said Disney. Gaara smiled and opened the box. There were beautiful pictures inside of the animated movie and 12 roses placed carefully in the box with a checkered pattern of red and yellow. It was beautiful. Gaara looked around to see if there was a card and was happy to find one tucked away with the roses.

_Gaara,  
I know this is your favorite Disney movie so I had to get them for you. I hope your Valentine's Day doesn't suck while you're in school and I can't wait to see you later. Don't ask how I got this to you in homeroom. Have a wonderful day.  
Lover_

Gaara's face turned red and he smiled warmly at the flowers. They were beautiful. He couldn't wait to show Ino.

***

Sasuke had so many flowers on his desk he didn't know what to do. Luckily Ino was right there next to him to collect all of them. He didn't know what she was doing. She left one behind and handed him the card. Sasuke took it curiously and Ino began weaving the flowers together. Sasuke looked awkwardly at the card.

**HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY. YOU'RE PURRFECT**   
_Sasuke,  
I'm really sorry I'm an idiot. You are my best friend, I'm sorry I invaded your privacy. Can we please talk? You can meet me outside during lunch if you want.  
Naruto_

Sasuke looked up at Ino and she shrugged.

"Figured you wanted to read that one, did you?" He honestly didn't know. Should he talk to Naruto? Was he still angry? Yeah... He was annoyed. Not as mad as he was two weeks ago, but still not happy. 

"Should I go talk to him?" Sasuke asked and Ino took a deep breath and thought.

"I think you should. You want to. I can tell. Just see what he has to say. What's the worst that could happen?" Sasuke really hated that line.

In the middle of class, Sasuke felt a weight on his head and looked up and Ino weaved him a flower crown. He sighed, she smiled.

***

He bumped into Ino between the next periods and she was sporting a flower crown of carnations. Gaara shouldn't have been surprised that she got so many. He wondered which color was the one he sent.

"Boo! She called happily and made her way to him. She pointed at a pink carnation that was in the front of the crown. "This one is the one you got me!" Gaara smiled and she picked up the carnations from the top of his things and twirled the stems together and tucked it behind his ear. "Did I get you red or blue?"

"Red." She nodded and looked down.

"What the fuck." She grabbed the Roseshire box and opened it, looking baffled. "Did Itachi give you these??" Gaara nodded slowly and looked concerned. "Oh shit! Gaara! A dozen Roseshire roses are over $100!" Gaara's eyes widened and he looked back down at the box. "He must really like you, what did you do?" Gaara blushed and Ino grinned. "Tell me later~! I have to get to class! Love you. Bye!" 

Ino ran off and Gaara walked to his locker and opened it. He was surprised to see something in his locker dangling. He put his things down and grabbed the pendant. It was his leaf from when him and Lee went apple picking. It was set in a pendant and just as red and vibrant as the day they grabbed it and Gaara ran his thumb over the smooth surface and smiled at how it resembled a heart. Lee so specifically picked this leaf out. Gaara put the necklace on and put his unneeded books away and grabbed new ones. He put his roses in his locker since he didn't feel like lugging them around all day and turned around and smacked into Lee.

"I am so sorry!" Lee was holding his nose and Gaara was holding his forehead. "I just wanted to see if you got my gift."

"Yes I did." Gaara rubbed is forehead and then put his hand down. "I love it, thank you." Lee looked down and saw Gaara was wearing it and beamed.

"I am so glad!" 

"I have a gift for you too. It's at home though." Lee tried not to show how much that meant to him and nodded.

"Thank you Gaara. I cannot wait to see it!"

***

Sasuke stood outside during lunchtime, not knowing exactly where Naruto meant to meet. He assumed it was the outside eating area (that literally no one was at because it was freaking cold outside, thanks Naruto.) Sasuke was running low on patience and almost gave up until he heard the door open and looked up to see Naruto running outside.

"Slow down, loser. You're gonna hurt yourself." Sasuke jabbed and Naruto just grinned at him. "What do you want from me?"

"Hey, you're cold. Where's your jacket?" Naruto asked and Sasuke glared at him.

"I didn't think to stop at my locker before lunch. What do you want?" Sasuke asked again and Naruto took off his jacket to reveal another sweater and threw it at Sasuke. "I don't want your damn jacket." He snapped and Naruto ignored him. He knew eventually Sasuke would get over it and put it on.

"I just wanted to talk to you. I was wrong for what I did and I'm sorry. Sasuke, we've been friends for years. I couldn't imagine a life without you in it and I know it was my fault for reading your personal belongings, but I read it and now I know. We can't take that back. But we can try and move forward. I'm willing to try if you area and I know I'm not the decider with all the bad decisions I've made but..."

"You never told me..." Sasuke trailed off.

"If I like you?" Naruto supplied awkwardly. Sasuke nodded and if his cheeks turned pink, he would blame the cold air. "I don't know. I know I should know I would be easier if I did but I just don't know. You've thrown me for a loop. I looked at you as my best friend for so long, I didn't let myself think you were anything but my best friend. Now that I know you think more of me... I just need time to think. I can't decide right off the bat. I'm sorry. I'm not saying I don't like you, I'm just asking to give me time."

"What would giving you time do?" Sasuke asked as he put on the jacket.

"It would let me know what I want. I never thought this would be a situation I would be in so I never thought about it. At the end of the day, you're still my best friend and I don't want to lose you."

"I'll give you time to figure it out. And you'll give me time to cool down." Naruto nodded and Sasuke turned to walk away.

"Sasuke." Sasuke paused. "I just want you to know that I do love you." Sasuke turned to face him in the eye.

"I love you too." Naruto didn't know if he was more surprised at the fact that Sasuke said it back to him or he said it without throwing an insult. Naruto just realized how much Sasuke did like him.

***

At the end of the day, Gaara grabbed his roses and Lee met him by his locker. Ino was waiting too.

"Can I help you?" He asked slowly and Ino pouted.

"Can you ask your boytoy to give us a ride to your house? My dad's car is in the shop so he took mine. And Lee is a loser without a car." Lee looked at her.

"I would be fine walking home. I do it frequently." Ino made a face.

"Okay but I'm going to your house and Gaara is going to your house and we're getting a ride. Do you want to walk alone?" Lee frowned and shook his head.

"Ino, you don't even know if Itachi is outside waiting." Ino nodded.

"Yes I do. Sasuke didn't drive today. Which means big brother to the rescue! Let's go!" Gaara had her hold the flowers so he could put on his sweater and coat and Lee looked at the box with interest.

"What is that?" He asked and Ino opened the box. "Oh, wow they're very pretty. Did Itachi get them for you?" Gaara nodded and Lee tried his best to look happy. "That is so nice of him."

They walked outside and saw Sasuke getting into the truck. Gaara didn't walk directly at the truck, not wanting to impose, but when Itachi saw the bright red hair he honked the horn to get Gaara's attention. Gaara looked up and waved and Itachi waved him over. Ino and Lee followed.

"Hi Itachi. Hi Sasuke." Gaara greeted and Itachi smiled.

"Do you guys need a ride home or is Ino bringing you?" Ino sighed sadly.

"Ino's car isn't here. It would be nice if you could give us a ride." Itachi smirked.

"Yeah I know my little desert dweller doesn't do well in the cold. How many layers are you wearing?" Gaara glared at him and he laughed. "Come on, get it. It'll be a tight fit, I have my guitar and my keyboard back there." Gaara opened the door and let Ino in first, then Gaara, then Lee. They did not fit very well and Gaara wound up sitting on both of them.

"Ugh, Gaara you're making my side dig into the keyboard can you move?" Ino kept shifting uncomfortably and Gaara glared at her.

"Do you want to sit on my lap then?" He asked and Ino giggled.

"No honey, I'm bigger than you." She pushed Gaara off her leg and he fell completely into Lee's lap. 

"This. Is not. Comfortable." Gaara groaned after hitting his head on the window. Ino had the grace to look apologetic.

"Don't worry. We'll be at your house shortly." Itachi said calmly.

"I told you we should have walked..." Lee sighed but couldn't complain too much with Gaara sitting in his lap.

"So Ino, why are you going with Gaara?" He asked and Ino giggled.

"Well someone has to get him date ready! Besides, I left most of my good makeup there when I got ready for a date last night there." Itachi nodded and pulled into the driveway. "Thank you Itachi~!" Gaara opened the door and practically fell out of the car. Lee caught him the best he could. Ino followed behind them with the box of roses.

"You're welcome. Gaara, are you okay?" Gaara gave a thumbs up as Lee set him standing straight. "Okay, well text me. I'll see you later." Ino closed the door and they waved as Itachi and Sasuke drove off.

***

"Gaara! Ino! You look nice. What is the occasion?" Kakashi asked after they came downstairs.

"Oh we have dates!" Ino said and Gaara gave her a look. "...with each other...?" Gaara smacked his forehead. Kakashi put down his book.

"Dates huh? With who?" Gaara groaned. "Come on! I won't question you like Guy." 

Gaara had half the mind to tell him that was the problem. Guy would ask who the date was with, then spend 25 minutes talking about youthful love. Kakashi would ask who the date was, what was their profession, how many siblings did they have, what time would he be home, what time does he think he would get to the location, where the location is, what's the license plate number, who's the driver, how long have they been driving, what was their work history, what was their Social Security number, have they ever traveled outside of the US... and so on.

"An... older guy." Ino said with an awkward smile. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" Gaara looked at his feet. "It's Itachi." Kakashi sighed and Gaara looked up at him confused. "Yeah I'm not stupid. I suspected it for a while. Is he picking you up?" Gaara nodded. "I'd like to speak with him." If Gaara was embarrassed before, he was mortified now. "Don't give me that look. You're lucky Guy isn't home." He supposed it would be more embarrassing to get the youthful love lecture while Itachi was there. "When is he coming?" Gaara pulled out his phone and Ino giggled at the background and Gaara glared at her.

"In like 20 minutes." Kakashi nodded and Gaara remembered he was supposed to give Lee his gift. "I'll be right back." He went to his room and looked through his things and grabbed the box it was in. He also reached into his bookbag and pulled out another box, one he picked up during lunch and forgot to give Lee.

He walked to Lee's door and knocked on it.

"Come in!" Gaara opened his door and walked inside. Lee was on his workout mat doing pushups. "689. 690. 691. I will be done in just a second." Gaara just stared at him. Lee wasn't wearing a shirt and his torso was covered in sweat but was surprised how it made his muscles look bigger. Gaara hadn't noticed how much bigger Lee had been getting. "700! Okay. Sorry. I am done." He stood up, breathing heavily with a grin. Gaara blushed at the sight and handed Lee the two boxes. "Oh! Thank you Gaara!" He opened the one from the bakery and smiled, his face blushing. Gaara made him a cinnamon roll, bigger than normal, heart shaped, with the icing dyed pink. He wanted to do red but Temari told him it would look gruesome. "Thank you. I love it." He put the cinnamon roll down and opened the second box. He pulled a bracelet out from the container and looked at it. The bracelet was sterling silver and in beautiful script said Gaara's name. On the other side of the plate it said 'best'. Gaara held up his own wrist and Lee was touched to see his own name on Gaara's wrist with 'friends' on the opposite side. "Oh... Gaara..." Lee went to hug him then stopped because he was sweaty. "Thank you, Gaara."

"I don't mind if you hug me, Lee." Gaara said simply and Lee grinned and pulled Gaara in for the comforting hugs he was known for. Gaara was surprised he didn't find the smell of post-workout Lee to be disgusting. Lee tightened the hug and let his chin rest on Gaara's shoulder.

"You look wonderful, Gaara. I hope you enjoy your date." Gaara glanced to his left to try and catch Lee's eye. Lee was looking at him strangely.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Lee shook his head. "Tell me."

"I want..." Lee stopped himself and Gaara stared at him expectantly. "I want to kiss you. So badly. You should go. Lee pulled away and sat back on his workout mat and started to do sit-ups. "Have fun, Gaara." Gaara stared at Lee for longer than necessary and left the room feeling lightheaded.

***

Lee heard Itachi knock on the door and stopped doing sit-ups and just sat on the mat staring at the ceiling. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly hearing Kakashi greet him at the door. He cursed Itachi for having such a deep, smooth voice. Itachi was the embodiment of everything Lee wasn't and it made him sad. Itachi was called a prodigy his entire life by everyone in the town. He can do everything. Yeah, Sasuke speaks more languages but Itachi still can speak five of them. And he can play every instrument and he was in shape. Lee was sure the only problem Itachi had was his horrible eyesight. His glasses were so thick.

Something else that bothered Lee was the fact that Itachi bought him roses with the Beauty and the Beast theme. If Lee could pick a movie that was his and Gaara's, it would be Beauty and the Beast. And if he could pick their song, it would be tale as old as time.

Lee crawled over to his bedroom door and cracked it open just to hear what Kakashi had to say to the perfect, wonderful, Itachi Uchiha. Lee wished that Itachi would at least be mean, but the guy was so damn polite and nice.

***

"Hello, Kakashi. Is Guy here as well?" Kakashi shook his head and motioned for Itachi and Gaara to sit down. Ino giggled and went to wait in the living room.

"He isn't here yet. He had to work late. Maybe you'll be able to see him when you bring Gaara home tonight." Itachi smiled at the not-so-subtle way Kakashi just told him Gaara better be home tonight.

"Of course. I would love the chance to talk to him too." Kakashi nodded slowly.

"So what exactly is going on between you two? No point in lying, I can tell when people are lying. It's a power." Itachi chuckled.

"I wouldn't dream of lying to do, Kakashi... Or should I now call you Mr. Hatake-Maito?" Kakashi smirked right back at him.

"Kakashi is fine. We've known each other much too long to start with those now. So, what is going on?" Itachi glanced at Gaara, unsure of what Gaara felt comfortable with sharing.

"Are we together?" Gaara asked confused and Itachi raised an eyebrow. "No, I know we're exclusive but I wasn't sure if we were official. Ino and I were trying to figure that out." Itachi laughed and his smile was beautiful.

"I'm sure if you asked me and not Ino you could've come up with the answer quicker. Would you like to be official, Gaara? I wasn't sure if you were ready to label it or not." Gaara pondered and looked at the table. Was he ready?

"I think I am." Itachi shook his head.

"No. If you were it would be a sure answer. Don't answer the question in a way you think would appease everyone. I want you to make the best decision for you." Gaara nodded slowly.

"Would you be embarrassed to be my boyfriend?" Gaara asked quietly and Kakashi noticed the look of pure surprise on Itachi's face.

"No. Why would you think that?" Itachi tilted Gaara's chin so Gaara was staring at him but Gaara averted his eyes and looked embarrassed.

"Because you're Itachi. I'm... Gaara." Itachi still didn't understand. 

"Gaara, are you insinuating you don't think you're good enough for me?" Gaara sighed but didn't answer in any way. "Why would someone with the tattoo for love on their forehead think that?" Gaara tensed at the question and caught the attention of Kakashi and Itachi. "What?"

"That isn't what that means." Gaara said stiffly and Itachi was confused. He could read kanji and that is definitely how love was written. "It wasn't the intended meaning when I was given it." Gaara remained tight lipped about any other details to the tattoo.

"It's okay if you aren't ready to tell us or never will be ready, Gaara. But that doesn't change what I was trying to say. You shouldn't feel that way. I could not be luckier to have you. I will prove that to you, given time." Itachi promised and Kakashi sat up in his chair a bit.

"Gaara, I understand you've had a difficult time, but as I've said before, we love you here. You are loved. You will be loved for a long time. Just because of things that happened with your father doesn't make you undeserving of it. It's going to be a long road to recovery, but I know I'll be there for you and there's so many people there with me."

After their talk, Gaara said he needed to grab something and ran upstairs. Kakashi waited until he was gone and looked at Itachi.

"I took Gaara in when I found out he wasn't even allowed in his father's home. He slept in the storage room in the café he works at. He had two pairs of clothes and two pairs of shoes. One for work, one for school. Before that, Gaara lived in a shed in the backyard of his father's house in the desert. He has not had an easy time. If you aren't ready to deal with that, that's fine. But please leave now if you can't. I don't want Gaara getting attached and then losing you." The information was new to Itachi. Gaara never told him about his previous living conditions.

"That wouldn't deter me from him. I will take care of him, Kakashi. I promise. When have you known me to be reckless?" Kakashi sighed and nodded, knowing Itachi was right. "I promise this isn't an impulsive relationship I'm going to get bored of. I haven't been with anyone in 4 years for a reason."

"Yeah, you're right Itachi. I'm just... being..."

"A parent?" Itachi smiled and Kakashi nodded. "That's fine. I understand. I'm glad someone is looking out for him. Thank you. For everything you've given Gaara. If nothing else, realize you gave him a home. Something he's never had before." Kakashi rarely got emotional but he had to look away for a minute to get himself in control.

"Why don't you go upstairs and see how Gaara is doing?" Itachi nodded and walked up the stairs. He knew Lee's room was to the left, that meant Gaara's was to the right. He walked into the doorway and stared at Gaara who was kneeling in front of the closet with a bag, zipping it up.

"Ready to go?" Gaara asked and Itachi nodded and gazed around the room that Gaara was in most of his time. His eyes fell to the tree and he walked over and knelt beside it. "That was my Christmas tree that I picked." It didn't surprise Itachi in the slightest. He looked around and saw clothespins with names on them. 

"Ino, Itachi, Lee, Kakashi, Guy, Kankuro, Temari... what is this?" He asked and Gaara blushed.

"Just people who mean a lot to me." Itachi smiled and then the smile faded. "What?"

"You're forgetting the most important person." He stood up and walked to Gaara's desk where there was a bucket of clothespins. He grabbed one and then took a marker. He grabbed some paper and cut out a star, glued it to the clothespin and on the star wrote something then put it on top of the tree.

"...Gaara?" Gaara asked confused.

"Exactly. You forgot yourself." Itachi kissed Gaara's forehead. "Let's go." Gaara followed behind him and looked once more at the star on top of his tree.

***

Gaara was expecting Itachi to take him to a fancy restaurant or something. He didn't. He took him home. Gaara tilted his head confused and Itachi smiled at him.

"I know you don't like crowds, so I reserved a table for us tomorrow someplace nice so we can avoid all of that. I still wanted to do something for you, so here we are." Itachi took Gaara's hand and brought him into part of the estate Itachi never showed him. Gaara admired the beautiful décor and Itachi led him to the back. There was a table set up with candles all around on the enclosed porch that overlooked the large pond on property. The sky was clear and the stars sparkled like diamonds in the light. The moon was bright and full, and the porch was surprisingly toasty. 

"Itachi this is beautiful. You should have let me cook for you though." Itachi shrugged.

"Yeah, I can get you to cook for me later though. You would've missed the surprise." Itachi sat Gaara down in his seat and took his own seat. Suddenly a woman was standing by their table.

"Are you ready for your drinks, sir?" Itachi looked over at Gaara.

"Would you like a glass of wine or something else?" Gaara bit his lip in thought.

"Do you have sweet white wine? That's the only one I like." Itachi looked at the waitress and nodded. "Also, a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon for me please. Thank you."

"You... have a wait staff here?" Gaara asked and Itachi smirked. 

"Not all the time. Only for special occasions. Tell me, Gaara. Do you like Valentine's Day?" Gaara shrugged.

"I never had a Valentine." Itachi found that rather shocking. He was surprised that Gaara didn't have a line of suitors anywhere he went. He had the cutest face.

The waitress set their glasses of wine on the table and also poured them some water.

"Are you ready for the appetizer?" Itachi nodded with a smile and she left again. 

"So did you plan the menu or are you letting the chef wing it?" Gaara asked and Itachi chuckled.

"You say that as if I would give someone control over something. I'm way too specific about everything to allow that to happen." Gaara nodded.

"What's your favorite color?" Itachi raised his eyebrow. "I feel like we've been together for almost a month and I don't know these stupid things about you. My favorite color is green. Or maroon. Depending on my mood."

"I'm quite fond of purple. What is your favorite animal? I like elephants." Hearing Itachi say out of all the animals ever he preferred an elephant was the cutest thing about Itachi.

"I like pangolins." Itachi paused.

"What the hell is that?" Itachi pulled out his phone to look it up. "Really? That is the most awkward looking animal I've ever seen." Gaara smiled proudly and Itachi shook his head with a fond smile.

***

The date went well and Itachi brought Gaara to the main house to relax and watch a movie. Gaara preferred the bedroom to the living room since he drank a bit too much and had a headache. Itachi made fun of him relentlessly for it.

"What would you like to watch?" Itachi asked and Gaara didn't hesitate.

"Can we watch Beauty and the Beast? The new one. It has more songs." Itachi smirked and nodded.

Watching through the movie, Itachi noticed how well Gaara knew all of the songs. It was like watching the movie with a child and it was rather cute. 

"If you could play any of them, who would you pick?" Itachi asked during a dull moment in the movie.

"Um... I think I would like to play Gaston." Itachi looked surprised. "The bad guys have more fun, I feel. Why? Do you think I could do it?"

"Well... You know I adore you. But you don't... look the part for Gaston." Gaara smirked.

"You do." Itachi didn't know if he should be offended or not. "Muscular, long hair, handsome. I think you could play Gaston well." In the background the song Gaston came on and Gaara didn't miss a beat. "Gosh it disturbs me to see you Gaston. Looking so down in the dumps. Every guy here'd love to be you Gaston, even when taking your lumps. There's no man in town as admired as you, you're everyone's favorite guy. Everyone's awed and inspired by you, and it's not very hard to see why..." Gaara kissed him. "No one's slick as Gaston, no one's quick as Gaston, no one's necks as incredibly thick as Gaston, for there's no man in town half as manly-" A perfect, a pure paragon. "You can ask any Tom, Dick or Stanley. And they'll tell you who's team they prefer to be on." The wink Gaara gave just killed Itachi and he laughed. He picked Gaara up from the bed and put him on the carpet.

"As a specimen, yes I'm intimidating!" He flexed and Gaara laughed. "I needed encouragement. Thank you Lefou!"

"Where there's no one as easy to bolster as you." Gaara said, pushing him to the bed and kissing him. "Too much?"

"Nope." Itachi spun them around so Gaara was on the bed and climbed over him and kissed him hungrily. Gaara made the sweetest surprised noise and melted into the kiss, the song now forgotten. 

"I told you, you could make a good Gaston." Gaara said breathily. Itachi smirked and kissed up his neck and bit his earlobe.

"Only if you'll be my Lefou." He kissed across Gaara's cheeks and to his mouth again.

"Only if you keep kissing me like that." Gaara whispered breathlessly and Itachi whined against his lips. He pulled away and rubbed his temples. "You getting worked up?" Itachi nodded.

"I'm sorry. Give me a minute." Gaara chuckled and climbed off the bed and grabbed his bag. "Where are you going?" Gaara just held up his index finger and walked into the bathroom. When Gaara came back out Itachi groaned. He was wearing his chef jacket.

"Why would you do this to me?" Gaara tilted his head adorably to the side. 

"I thought you liked my chef jacket." Itachi was off the bed and picking Gaara up with ease within seconds.

"I do. So much. That's the problem." He pressed Gaara's back against the wall and Gaara wrapped his legs around Itachi's hips. "I don't mind your sexuality, but damn, Gaara. You're sexy and you're going to make me go crazy."

"Don't go crazy." Gaara shifted his hips in a way that brushed against Itachi's groin and Itachi shivered. "Just take care of yourself." Gaara hugged Itachi's neck and kissed him. Itachi grabbed Gaara under his thighs and brought him to the bed and put him down, pushed him into the center of the bed and climbed over him, all while kissing. Gaara felt Itachi's arm move around his leg and heard the sound of Itachi undoing his belt and unzipping his pants. Gaara bit his lip and Itachi shuddered. 

The jingling sound of the belt buckle being moved was heard and then Gaara heard them fall to the floor. Gaara realized he was only slightly uncomfortable, which meant he was getting more used to Itachi. 

Gaara knew when Itachi started to touch himself by the way his kissing changed. It was interesting to him to feel someone lose control like that. To be able to be out of the situation at the same time as being there. Since Gaara didn't really feel sexual excitement, it was easy for him to learn Itachi's behavior. He wanted to be able to tell what Itachi wanted by each kiss. Since Gaara's arms were wrapped around Itachi's neck, he was able to feel the movement of Itachi's arm. The movement got messier, quicker, and more erratic. Gaara could tell he was getting there. Itachi pulled away and gave Gaara a look over. Itachi was so close to finishing, he muffled his moaning by kissing Gaara. Gaara learned that even though he didn't care for sex, Itachi finishing was exciting enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT GUYS. 3 MORE COMMENTS AND THE NEXT ONESHOT IS UP. I JUST ANNOUNCED THE FIRST WINNER TWO DAYS AGO. WHERE DID ALL THESE COMMENTS COME FROM??? THANK YOU. YOU BLESS ME.
> 
> Also, should I change the story description? I don't know if it captures peoples eyes enough. I wrote another story It's Not Unusual and that one dominates this one in every aspect but idk if it's because the description is better or because people like ABO stories.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLAY AUDITION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **uurahara** : I know! I love him. Everyone needs to grow up somehow though! I hope your wrist feels better!  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : THANK YOU. Gaara and Itachi will eventually be just like an old married couple and I can't wait for that point. I love writing Itachi because he doesn't get jealous and that's such a good part of a relationship! It's something Gaara needs to learn too so thank you Itachi! And yes there will be good times with Naruto and Sasuke. I have much planned for those two. You're the second person who recommended Sai so I think that will be Ino's date. Glad you love the story!  
>  **RainiDayz** : THAT IS SUCH A GOOD PROMPT OMG THANK YOU FOR THAT. (and way to be the 150th reviewer. Stop being so good with your timing lol)  
>  **Leah: CONGRATULATIONS!** Since RainiDayz was my last oneshot winner, she gave her second win to you! So if you have a oneshot idea for me, just comment and I will try to get it to you asap. And we have more SasuNaru interactions in the sense that they seem back to normal now. Itachi is going to hate his life for a while there lol  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : I'm going to destroy your feelings tbh. I understand you completely! But right now Lee is learning how to be a good friend without the romance attached. He needs this for later. And Gaara is learning an important lesson with Itachi. How to handle jealousy. With someone as calm as Itachi, it's the one lesson he's bound to teach Gaara eventually. (No but seriously if someone wants to draw that I wouldn't mind at all... for my friend. Yessss. I can't wait to write Naruto as such a fucking sap. For now Gaara doesn't really know how to get turned on. If his body reacts, his mind is still confused. He will change later on ;) (He won't be like a sex monster but eventually Itachi will be able to touch him.)  
>  **Rae** : AHHHH THANK YOU. No! Don't feel like a weenie! Fun story, I am actually against underage drinking! I didn't drink in high school. I had my first alcoholic drink on my 21st birthday and a month later got pregnant so there was that. I've also never been drunk before! (And I'm 23!) So don't feel like a weenie! You're just you. Kakashi being a good dad? Wait until June. That's when the good shit is. Yesss Lee will be ripped and so muscular and Gaara will probably just die. Aw that's a cute prompt. Ino would bring Gaara along for dresses. I'm trying to think of different places for hints to be in the scavenger hunt. That sounds like something childish like Naruto! I like it.

Chapter Thirty-Four:

Itachi was well respected in the community, known for generous donations to several programs and sometimes he single-handedly kept them running. This was also the case for the Performing Arts Town Theatre in Freytown. Considering the surprising amount of musically inclined people in town they had, it was custom to have a musical every year. Itachi would fund most of it and made a profit once they started selling tickets. It slowly became a town tradition to see the musical in June as a summer start off. 

Itachi had a lot of pull with the theatre, so when he walked into the town auditorium after making plans to speak with Orochimaru and Kabuto, they knew he was going to ask for something and would most likely comply.

"Mr. Uchiha. It is good to see you." Orochimaru greeted and Kabuto stood a few steps back but smiled at Itachi. "What do we owe this honor?"

"The play. Have you decided on what it was yet?" This caught their attention.

"We were looking through plays with the cheapest copyright permissions." Itachi nodded.

"Okay. Forget that. Put on Beauty and the Beast." Orochimaru and Kabuto's eyes widened. 

"B-but the movie just came out. The rights to the script would be-" Itachi put his hand up to stop him from speaking.

"Paid for by me." Orochimaru stopped protesting and nodded.

"Why is this so important?" He asked, he wasn't going to argue anymore, putting on such a popular play would be great for the town theatre. The money they would make in revenue since it was such a popular show would be astronomical in comparison to most of the plays they put on. This one might even get people from around town to come see. Itachi just chuckled and crossed his arms.

"It's my boyfriend's favorite. I'm going to try to talk him into auditioning, do NOT give him a part that he doesn't deserve to placate me. If he found out, he would be very upset, is that clear?" They nodded. "Good. Thank you. Send me the order once you find the rights to the play and I will order it and send it here directly. I am going to put a lot of money into this play, even if Gaara doesn't get a role since he will likely watch it. You two better put in your all." Orochimaru just smiled and nodded. "Thank you for your time, gentlemen." Itachi inclined his head and briskly walked out of the theatre. Kabuto turned to Orochimaru.

"That went better than expected." Orochimaru was already searching for the script on his phone.

"This is going to be the best damn play anyone ever saw. I'm amazed at our luck that we didn't even have to reach out to him for a donation. When this Gaara kid auditions, remind me to kiss him." Kabuto chuckled.

"I don't think Itachi would like that too much..." Orochimaru shrugged.

***

"Gaara!" Lee burst through Gaara's bedroom door. "Did you hear?!"

"Hear what? I can't hear anything over you." Gaara said dryly and Lee laughed.

"You probably do not know. The town puts on a play every year and they announce it in March and the show is in June." Gaara stared at Lee, waiting for him to get to the point. "This year it is Beauty and the Beast! I do not know how they got the money to put on such a popular show, but auditions start next week!" Gaara just stared wide eyed. "Would you like to audition?"

"...I-I don't think I can." Lee looked concerned.

"Why? What is wrong? You are an amazing singer." Gaara shook his head.

"I-I..." Lee quickly made his way to Gaara's side and put his arm around him. Gaara instinctively leaned into the contact.

"Would you like me to sing a song with you? I am not a good actor so I would not be good for it but I will sing with you in your audition if you would like. We can sing anything you want to." Lee smiled and Gaara evened his breathing.

"I'll think about it, Lee. Thank you." Lee smiled again and hugged Gaara tightly.

***

"Gaara. Itachi is up front." Temari said and closed the kitchen door. Gaara was confused at that but wiped his hands on his apron and walked away from the workbench. He walked out front and Itachi was sitting on a barstool closest to the kitchen door which was the opposite end Temari was on.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The look Itachi gave him didn't go unnoticed.

"Just wanted to see you. I haven't seen you in a few days. How have you been?" Itachi sipped his coffee and Gaara walked to the stool next to him and they faced each other.

"I've been okay. Mostly talking to Lee... More appropriately, having Lee talk to me. Or at me. I'm unsure which." Itachi smiled.

"Really? What is he talking about?" Gaara frowned.

"Oh. I guess the town is putting on Beauty and the Beast." Gaara said and Itachi didn't make any indication he had anything to do with it. "He wants me to audition because I love the movie so much, I don't know if I can. He told me he'd sing with me so I didn't have to be nervous but he wasn't going to audition because he can't act. I don't even know if I can act, honestly. I've never done it." Itachi smiled.

"You made a wonderful Lefou." He winked and Gaara shook his head.

"Lefou doesn't make out with Gaston in the play. Nor... anything else..." Gaara blushed and Itachi smirked.

"He should've." Gaara looked up at Itachi again.

"Are you going to audition?" Itachi frowned.

"Why would I audition?" Gaara shrugged.

"I assumed you could sing and act since you're good at everything. Plus, you'd be a perfect Gaston." Why this conversation was turning on Itachi even a little bit, he would never know.

"But didn't you say you wanted to be Gaston?" Gaara frowned.

"I'm short, with short red hair, and I'm not muscular even slightly. The day they cast me as Gaston is the day they cast Lee as Belle." Itachi laughed heartily picturing Lee without a wig or eyebrow trimming, standing on stage in a yellow gown looking completely serious next to Gaara, who was wearing a Gaston costume that was much too big for him.

"How about this, I'll audition if you audition. Sound fair?" Gaara nodded.

"I have to get back to making cupcakes." Gaara hopped off the stool.

"You getting any help today?"

"Um, I think Ino or Lee will be in. Somehow Lee managed to be another aid in the kitchen when I'm behind. I've been behind a lot. For whatever reason I don't get as much done now that I don't work over 80 hours a week. Can't imagine why." Itachi tutted.

"You're slacking. You should really focus on your job more." Gaara smirked.

"Alright. I won't be over tonight. I'm going to roll pie shells for 6 hours."

"That was hurtful and uncalled for."

***

Itachi had the whole gang in his Cadillac Escalade truck and they were driving on their way to the auditions. Sasuke let Gaara have the front passenger seat and sat in the back behind Itachi. Lee sat in the middle, and Ino on the right. 

"Gaara are you okay?" Lee asked from the back seat. Gaara was bouncing his leg, biting his lip and looking out of the car window like he wanted to jump out.

"Are you nervous?" Itachi asked from the driver's seat. "Everything will be fine. Lee will be on stage with you." He coaxed and Gaara took a deep breath.

"I know. I never sung in front of an audience before." Itachi looked at Gaara and frowned, Lee was leaning over the center console enough to pat Gaara's leg.

"Just look at me, Gaara. I will be singing right next to you." Lee said soothingly.

"Or me~! I'll be cheering you on!" Ino said from behind his seat. "I'm sure Sasuke will too~!"

"Sure. Why am I going again?" Sasuke mumbled.

"Because you are an Uchiha and you are known as one of their prime supporters." Itachi stated calmly. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Better question is, where's Naruto? I thought he was with use before we left." There was a pounding from behind them and Sasuke whirled around and looked out the window. "You put him in the bed of the truck??" 

"That was the best option, unless you wanted him to sit on you... actually-" Itachi began.

"Don't even." Sasuke cut him off with an angry blush.

"Sasuke, now one cares about your gay crisis, my baby is stressed." Ino rubbed Gaara's right shoulder from over the seat. "You got this, boo. Who knows, they may even cast you as Belle."

"Ino I hate you." Gaara grumbled and she giggled.

Itachi pulled into the theatre parking lot and everyone climbed out. When Itachi opened the cabin on the bed of the truck, Naruto rolled out with really messy hair.

"Man, that was fun but I rolled around a lot." Naruto rubbed his head and Sasuke rolled his eyes. 

"Come on, loser it's time to go."

***

"Mr. Uchiha! What a pleasant surprise!" Orochimaru said with a smile. "Are you trying out for the musical?"

"I promised I would. I don't expect a part. I just needed to give Gaara some confidence." Orochimaru nodded and looked around looking for Gaara. "He isn't quite in yet. He's with his best friend. They're warming up. They're doing a song together. When does auditions start?"

"In about 15 minutes. Kabuto is setting up the microphones and getting the piano ready. So why aren't you singing with Gaara?" Itachi shrugged.

"He wanted to sing with Lee. I suppose it's more comfortable for him right now. He's nervous. Sometimes you want your best friend, not your boyfriend." Orochimaru nodded.

"I see. Well, I'm still getting the judging table set up for Kabuto and I. Would you like to join us?" Itachi shook his head no.

"I'm afraid if people see me sit there and Gaara happens to get a part, they'll think I had something to do with it. Thank you though. I appreciate it." Orochimaru nodded and stalked off. No matter how nice Orochimaru was, he always gave off a creepy vibe.

Itachi walked out of the auditorium and into the warm up room. Gaara was going through the scales on the piano and him and Lee were getting their voices ready. Now that they didn't have their jackets, Itachi saw that Gaara wore an oversized maroon sweater and black skinny jeans and Lee wore a green sleeveless workout shirt and a pair of regular jeans. Huh, he never noticed how muscular Lee was before. Gaara smiled when he saw Itachi walk in and stopped playing the piano.

"Good job with your scales." Gaara chuckled at the compliment. Scales weren't a hard thing to get down. "Are you ready? Auditions start soon. There seems to be a lot of people here." Gaara nodded and let out a long shuttering breath. "Don't be nervous. We're all here. Would you like me to play the piano for your song?" Gaara nodded. "Okay. It's Tale as Old as Time, correct?" Another nod.

"That shouldn't be too difficult. Did you want to go first or would you like me to?" Gaara bit his lip and didn't say anything. "Okay I'll go first." Itachi said with a chuckle. "Lee, please take care of Gaara." Lee nodded.

"Of course I will." Itachi gave them one last glance and walked out of the room. 

***

Gaara sat in the audience for over a half an hour until Itachi stood from the seat next to him. His number was up.

"Break a leg." Gaara whispered and Itachi smiled and kissed the top of his head and walked to the stage.

"Sasuke, have you ever seen your brother sing before?" Sasuke shook his head. "Has anyone?"

"I have." Gaara admitted. "Not for very long, but from what I heard he could sing." Internally, Lee screamed. Of course Itachi could sing, he could do everything.

"Mr. Uchiha! I was wondering when we would see you again. What will you be singing for us today?" Orochimaru asked and Itachi took the microphone from one of the stage hands. 

"I was thinking of singing Evermore." Orochimaru made a noise of approval.

"A wonderful song." Honestly, Orochimaru and Kabuto were most curious about Itachi's audition. No one had really heard him sing before. He'd only played instruments publically. With him stating that he didn't expect a part, they assumed he wasn't the best singer and just going on stage to help his boyfriend to get the confidence he needed.

They were wrong.

Not a single note was missed. Itachi's voice reverberated beautifully off the walls of the auditorium and he didn't even use his microphone. His words were enunciated so well there wasn't any questions of what he just sung. Kabuto and Orochimaru exchanged glances. Sure, Itachi said he didn't expect a part, but he might've just been their lead role.

"Wow! Your brother is so talented!" Ino gaped to Sasuke and he sighed. He wasn't surprised, if anything he was annoyed. His brother couldn't be bad at one thing? Show off.

Lee just stared in resignation. There were few things he knew how to do, singing was one of them. And of course, it was also something Itachi could do. His only hope was that Itachi wasn't a black belt in Karate. It seemed to be all Lee had going for him at this point.

"Wonderful, Mr. Uchiha. Very impressive." Itachi bowed slightly, thanked them for their time and walked off the stage. Everyone stared at him with the knowledge that he would be their Beast.

Itachi sat down next to Gaara and Gaara smiled at him.

"You were great. I think I'm more nervous now than before though." Itachi shook his head.

"Gaara, I've heard you sing before, in fact, I think I know your singing better than anyone else. You are fantastic, and you're going to kill this audition. Okay?" Gaara nodded unsurely. "What's your number?" Gaara turned to Lee, Lee pulled out a paper.

"We're number 36." Gaara's heart thudded. Two more people and it was his turn. He bit his lip again. "Gaara, do not fret! You will do your best. That is all that matters" Itachi agreed with Lee and no matter what, Gaara couldn't calm down.

When number 36 was called, Lee raised from his seat and held out his hand to help Gaara up. Gaara had a tendency to get stuck in chairs since he crossed his legs pretzel style and his foot got caught under the arms. Gaara untangled himself from the chair and Lee pulled him up. Itachi squeezed his arm as he passed for good luck and Gaara smiled at him.

The two walked on stage and were given microphones. Gaara took his nervously as if they would bite him.

"Hello. Your names please." Kabuto said professionally.

"My name is Rock Lee, this is Gaara Sabaku." This caught their attentions and they looked up to see who the famous Gaara was. They both looked at each other, their curiosities at its peak. "We will be singing Tale as Old as Time." Orochimaru noticed his pianist was being removed from the piano bench and Itachi sat down at it. So this was without a doubt the right Gaara.

"Very well. Any role in particular you're trying out for?" Gaara shook his head, not looking at them for too long before turning his head to stare at the stage.

"I am not trying out for a role, I am just here to help Gaara with this song." Lee said with a smile. He turned to Gaara and grabbed his wrist. Gaara looked up at him. "You ok?" He could feel Gaara trembling under his touch. Gaara was a nervous wreck. "Hey, it'll be fine. Just look at me. They aren't here. Pretend we're in the kitchen, ok?" Lee said softly, Gaara nodded, but was still shaking. His heart felt like it was going to explode, it was hard to breathe, even. Lee didn't take his hand off of Gaara's wrist, he turned to Itachi and nodded and Itachi began to play on the piano.

Gaara looked up and Lee mouthed 'just you and me. Look at me.' And their eyes locked. Gaara didn't look at anything else but Lee's eyes and shakily brought the microphone to his lips.

"Tale as old as time. True as it can be. Barely even friends, then somebody bends, unexpectedly." Lee smiled warmly at him and gave his wrist a squeeze.

"Just a little change, small to say the least, both a little scared. Neither one prepared, beauty and the beast."

As Itachi sat at the piano playing, he couldn't help but appreciate how well their voices sounded together. He was thankful that Lee was up there keeping Gaara from freaking out. After a while, Gaara's voice sounded less nervous and more sure. 

Ino, Sasuke and Naruto sat in the back, wide eyed watching the two sing together. Ino heard Gaara say Lee could sing, she just couldn't picture it. And the thing that made her think most was... The two really looked in love. In just an instant, Ino knew that no matter what happened with Gaara and Itachi, in the end she believed Gaara would be with Lee.

Sasuke and Naruto were just surprised that someone like Lee could sing as well as Lee did. He never gave any notion that he was able to sing. It was rare to see two people sing with as much chemistry as Lee and Gaara, and that was an impressive feat in itself.

Orochimaru and Kabuto leaned closer at their judge table. When Itachi told them not to give Gaara the part if he didn't deserve it, they thought it would be because Gaara couldn't sing. They didn't expect him to be able to not only sing, but sing beautifully. And Lee! Lee said he wasn't even auditioning, yet he sounded better than most of the people that did. One thing about the pair was for certain, the passion they sang with, the compatibility of the two singers, and the chemistry you couldn't find with just anyone. 

As the song came to its conclusion and the final notes were hit, Orochimaru and Kabuto honestly expected it to end with a kiss, if only just because of the love that was clearly put into the song. 

Gaara and Lee hit the last note and Gaara noticed the brief flicker of sadness that flitted across Lee's eyes. Gaara was suddenly struck with the realization that this was the song they kissed to. This was their song. Gaara picked it since the musical was beauty and the beast and what better to sing than a song from what they're auditioning for? He didn't realize the implication of the song and just stared at Lee. Lee's hand let go of Gaara's wrist for the first time and Gaara wouldn't admit how cold he felt without his hand there.

"That was fantastic, Lee are you sure you don't want to audition?" Lee turned to them in surprise and flushed.

"Um. I have never been in a play before. I am unsure of my acting abilities. But if you need someone, I suppose I could help." Gaara smiled at Lee, proud that he was being shown recognition for the great job he did.

***

"You were so amazing." Ino hugged Gaara and squeezed him. "I had no idea you could sing like that. Oh Gaara! You're going to be given a good role, I can tell!" 

"Hey Itachi." Itachi looked at Sasuke.

"What?"

"You should peep at the judge's notes to see who they're considering for roles. They would totally show you. They're like super gay for you." Itachi stared at Sasuke with a frown.

"I will wait like everyone else."

"Lame. Do you even want a part?" Itachi shrugged.

"I find myself impartial. I would only want a part if Gaara had one too. It would seem pointless to be here with no one I know."

"Well then it looks like you're going to be working with Gaara because, man. If Gaara doesn't get a part, I will lose all faith in the judges. Gaara you were seriously great. And Lee, you were awesome too." Ino smiled and Lee blushed and scratched his neck.

"Thank you very much."

"Yes, you both were wonderful. And together you sang perfectly. Well done." Gaara was always surprised how calm and emotionless Itachi was when other people were around. He wasn't like that when it was just the two of them. But then again, he could make Itachi lose complete control. He smiled at the realization that he was one of the things that made Itachi act like he wasn't Itachi anymore. 

"Thank you, Itachi. That means a lot to me. You were also a very wonderful singer. I am sure you will get a part." Sasuke laughed dryly.

"Well, considering he funds the theatre they would be dumb for not giving him whatever role he wanted to play." Itachi glared at him.

"I specifically told them I didn't want a part for that reason." Gaara paused and looked at him.

"What? I thought we were going to be in the play together."

"Orochimaru doesn't listen very well so it's possible he still will. I just didn't want him to put me in it thinking I wanted a role because knowing him he would give me a role I didn't deserve just because I help fund the plays sometimes and he doesn't want to lose a sponsor." It made sense but Gaara still wasn't happy about it. "Anyway, how about we all go to dinner."

"If you're paying!" Naruto grinned and ran to the car.

"I hope he knows where he's sitting..." Sasuke mumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Notes** : So I need YOUR HELP! RainiDayz submitted the best prompt but I honestly don't know how to write it but I WANT TO SO BAD. [Prompt- Why not have Gaara walk in on Lee getting worked up to his racy pictures] FANTASTIC, RIGHT? Well my only problem is how would Gaara know?? Lee's room setup is you open the door and can see his bed from there so how would Gaara know Lee was looking at pictures of him? PLEASE HELP I WANT THIS PROMPT IN THE STORY SO BAD.
> 
> Also, Rae's prompt was Naruto doing a promposal to Sasuke in the form of a scavenger hunt! Help me out with places he would bring Sasuke to for each clue!
> 
> This would've been posted 3 hours ago but I was at my husbands Floorball game. He NEEDED me to see him play for 40 seconds. In that time I wrote this chapter and drew Gaara as Lefou and Itachi as Gaston
> 
> Thank you, bless you. I love you all.
> 
>  **REGARDING THE PLAY** : who should Gaara, Lee and Itachi be?? Also, if there's a character you want to see for Belle, let me know!


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FILLER CHAPTER
> 
> Prompt- Why not have Gaara walk in on Lee getting worked up on his racy pictures?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **uurahara** : THANK YOU BOO. There is so much I want to see in this story with the play idk what to do with my life. I would love a Le Fou Gaara. I even drew him because he was so cute lmao. Thank you for your suggestions!  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : If Lee doesn't get the part for Gaston, I will still write a scene of him reading for Gaston. Thank you for your ideas!  
>  **Leah** : I'm glad you love this story! I will love to write a cute oneshot with Guy and Kakashi!  
>  **RainiDayz** : Gaara could be given any role and it's a good choice I love him. Thank you for your ideas!  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Even if Gaara doesn't become genderbent Belle I still love the idea, it's super cute. I'm glad you're prepared <3 I don't want you to die but I'm glad you like the picture! This story honestly has made me draw more lol.  
>  **Rae** : I used your idea with his laptop to be positioned differently. Thank you for your scavenger hunt ideas! Honestly, I was considering Hinata or TenTen! No one asked for TenTen so i decided not to. Yes! I have a baby. Her name is Evelyn (Or Eevee) and her room is decorated with eeveelutions. Babies are gross, I'm a germaphobe but my daughter is pretty cute.  
>  **Wren** : Thank you for your ideas! I would love Itachi as Gaston! That's what I'm hoping for!
> 
> I was laughing the other day because you know in middle school when they're like "Be careful what you put on the interwebz cause people can find you with just your email address! Then I have my username, Smoresies which I use for everything. Here, Tumblr, fanfiction, Instagram, Imgur, it doesn't matter. I hate myself lmao.

Gaara as Male!Belle  


Itachi as Gaston <3  


Gaara as Le Fou (I love him T_T)  


 

Chapter Thirty-Five:

For a while, the play was put on the back of Gaara's mind. They said the casting would be announced in a week and for the week, Gaara had a lot to do.

Ino was back at the Nursery along with being on the swim team so she was rarely in the bakery. It was easier in the wintertime when she only had to go to Cheerleading after school. The only plus side was there was no more reason to go to any Soccer games for Sasuke anymore (being outside in winter is cold as hell) but now Gaara was obligated to go to all the swim meets because Sasuke was also on the swim team. Gaara was impressed with everyone and their sports. Of course Lee was on a team. Lacrosse, so those were more games Gaara would eventually have to go to. Even Naruto was on a sport for the spring. Gaara didn't even realize Naruto knew how to play baseball. 

Something he learned being somewhere that wasn't the desert in spring time, allergies. There was a rare instance when his face wasn't swollen and he wasn't sneezing. On the plus side, his siblings were the same way. Temari kept a stash of Claritin in the bathroom and he felt as though he would eventually overdose on it. 

Itachi seemed to get busier this week too. He said he had a lot of deadlines to meet before the summertime and he wanted to get a head start in case something were to come up. This had Gaara confirm in his mind that Itachi was probably given a role in the play. He probably knew the roll everyone was given in the play.

Working all day was stressful. There was so much homework now and he had to rush to the bakery to prep everything now that most of his help was busy. It didn't help that since it was getting warmer being March, and all, that business was starting to pick up. 

Gaara was really. Fucking sick. Of making muffins. 

"Gaara, do you need us to hire more help back here?" Temari asked with a frown noticing how her brother, whom was normally walking at a damn near snail's pace, was practically running through the kitchen to get everything done. Gaara just glared at her. "You need to tell me when you need help. When I try to help you when you don't ask, you just get mad at me." He supposed that was true.

"Then yes, Temari. I really need fucking help." She nodded and grabbed an apron. "Not from you."

"Why?"

"You should be managing, not being back here with me. Just give me some people. Preferably ones with some experience. I don't feel like explaining the creaming method again. Or explaining that there are 4 cups in a quart, not 5. There's only 5 cups because you're filling the fucking measuring cup to ¾ cup and why the fuck are you measuring out 4 cups anyway when we get things in quarts?" Temari blinked a few times. She wondered who did that.

"Okay, I will. But for now, either me or Kankuro will help you get things done. It'll give us some bonding time." She smiled and he glared at her but she didn't let that deter her.

***

After Lacrosse practice, Lee went to the dojo. He only had to train one class today and it was just the children's yellow belts. It should be a relatively easy class, not that Lee would take it easy on them! They were still there to learn!

He got home after begging Kakashi to let him borrow the car, Kakashi let him take it since both he and Guy were at the dojo and could just travel together. Lee was tired, mostly mentally exhaustion.

The amount of tests and essays needed to be done this week was astronomical. He couldn't even think straight after today. Then Lacrosse was a killer and his feet hurt since his shoes were shot. He'd have to go get another pair at some point when he had time, which was never. 

Getting home was like a weight off his shoulders. The house was still dark and even though he would've loved to get home and see Gaara, especially if he made dinner, Lee was thankful Gaara was still at work. It sounded selfish and Lee felt bad, but he was just too tired to interact.

He got home and instantly ran to the bathroom to shower. It didn't matter that he took one after Lacrosse in the school. Showers at home were always more relaxing. And taking a shower let his mind wind down too after all he did today, his mind deserved a rest.

He thought of Gaara. The one thing he couldn't get off his mind since the auditions was Gaara's piercing stare while they sung together. Lee's heart ached in his chest just thinking about how much he loved Gaara and how it wasn't getting any easier. He wanted to be mad that Gaara was with Itachi, but what would that do? Make Gaara hate him and not talk to him ever again? So Lee just... accepted it. At least he was able to spend time with Gaara, a lot of the time, actually, he was with Gaara and Itachi. Sometimes Ino was there, most of the time Sasuke was there. It was nice to be with friends... But then Lee would notice the look Itachi would give Gaara. Lee knew that look. Lee had the same one. It shouldn't break Lee's heart that Itachi was falling in love with Gaara, honestly he should've been happy for Gaara but he wasn't. Lee didn't know what was more painful, not having Gaara at all or watching Gaara love someone else.

Lee left the shower feeling more mentally drained than he did before.

He got to his room and collapsed on the bed with his towel. He should scold himself for the laziness of not even getting dressed before he laid down but his bed was just so comfortable.

Eventually he gained the strength to sit up and press his back against the wall on the side of the bed, feeling thankful his bed was pressed against the wall for this reason. The cold touch of the wall cooled down his skin and he sat there for a bit just relaxing. The house was so quiet. It was wonderful.

Lee picked up his laptop and backpack from the floor and got himself comfortable on the bed with his back against the wall again, finding a new cold spot to lean on. He opened his computer and entered his password and flushed brightly at the screen. He'd been so out of it, he supposed, he didn't close out the pictures of Gaara he was looking at last time his computer was opened. He moved the accidental sent pictures to his computer when he was transferring all of his pictures to make more room on his phone. Then he started organizing all of the pictures he had on his phone into separate folders so he could find them better later on. (Family. Nature. Group pictures. With Sasuke. With Gaara. With Naruto.) and as he got to the newer pictures, he realized he saved Gaara's pictures and they were moved to his computer. Lee was so surprised. He quickly made a separate folder for them and password protected them. He should've deleted them, but he never admitted to being a saint.

Looking at the pictures on a larger screen brought attention to smaller details to Lee. His favorite picture, the one with Gaara laying down. On the pillow with his hands over his head and crossed, he could see under his wrist, on his covered wrist was the friendship bracelet and he could see the cursive L on the silver plate. Gaara's eyes were also darker around the edges and so bright towards the center. The circles around his eyes seemed darker which was probably done with makeup. He could see the freckles on Gaara's cheeks and nose, the tiny scar on his face, every edge of his tattoo, tiny baby hairs curling on his neck. The necklace Lee gave him was around his neck and it fell to the side, but Lee could still see a corner of it next to Gaara's ear. Gaara's shirt rode up and Lee could see the light trail of red hairs travel down from his belly button under the hem of his pants. Lee noticed Gaara's hip bone and a small mark on his right hip. 

The picture was even more beautiful this close up. Lee went through each picture to see the tiny details he missed when he saw them on his phone. He even saw the picture that would have a hard time loading on his phone for whatever reason. Gaara was on his knees, shirtless, looking up at the camera with his huge eyes. Lee's eyes traced the dip in his collarbone and the slight muscles he could make out from the angle. Gaara's eyes weren't looking into the camera, but away from it, a light blush dusting his cheeks. He was biting his lip as if he were nervous. 

The burning feeling of desire grew until Lee felt as if he couldn't breathe. He wanted Gaara so bad. He couldn't even think straight. Lee knew this question crossed his mind several times, but how on earth was Gaara this perfect?

Lee was painfully hard by the time he looked through all of the pictures. He was lucky that the only thing restraining him right now was a towel lightly folded over his lap. If he was wearing pants he didn't know how he'd get them off.

Slowly moving the towel out of the way, Lee knew that he shouldn't touch himself. He had the same internal conflict every time he touched himself to Gaara's pictures and it always ended with him just doing it anyway. He was too tired to put up a fight today. He moved the towel and gripped his erection firmly in his hand and let out a tiny gasp at the feeling of immense satisfaction. He hadn't realized how worked up he got to Gaara lately. He supposed singing his heart out, holding Gaara's wrist, seeing Gaara practice piano, seeing Gaara walk around the house with his hair in a bandana and apron doing laundry or mopping the floor... There was nothing Gaara could do that wouldn't be the sexiest thing Lee ever saw. 

The pictures on his laptop were forgotten. Lee's leg pushed it slightly, turning the screen more as he stretched out on the bed. Lee was immersed in his thoughts. Every once in a while he would glance at the screen and a wave of desire came crashing over him and he would tremble. Lee's head fell back and hit the wall. He was so turned on and he just wanted Gaara more than he ever wanted anything before. He needed Gaara. 

He needed Gaara stringing along clotheslines randomly through the house since he didn't want to use a washer. He needed Gaara standing on a stool to pin up clothes or reach a top shelf because he was too embarrassed to ask for help. He needed Gaara sitting on the back porch with a toothbrush, scrubbing the hell out of his shoes because he wanted to look like he had nice shoes for once. He needed Gaara cleaning the fridge and lecturing everyone in the house about "FIFO" and how the meat should be at the bottom and no vegetables should be below raw food. Lee needed it all, the good, the bad, the crazy. Everything. Everything Gaara. 

"Gaara. Gaara." Lee whispered, almost like a mantra. He bit his lip to try to keep himself quiet. He was so close. The tension in his body was wound up so tight. Lee wanted to cry Gaara's name, he bit his lip tighter. "Ohh Gaara." His free hand grasped his thigh and squeezed. He was so turned on and close he kept twitching. Precum trickled from his cock and lubricated under his hand and Lee's hand stroked over it and his legs twitched again with the lubricated touch of the most sensitive skin. "Gaara!" He gasped and with a few more strokes he was there...

He just didn't expect Gaara to open his door.

***

Today sucked. Temari sucked. Kankuro sucked. Itachi sucked. Even Lee sucked.

Gaara was so fucking tired of today and just wanted to go home. Temari left before he was done, so did Kankuro. Gaara stayed at the bakery for an hour passed everyone else. He called Itachi, no answer. He even called Lee! No answer! When didn't Lee answer his damn phone? So Gaara walked home. And it was cold and he was annoyed but whatever.

He got home to see Kakashi's car. He smacked himself in the face for not thinking to call Kakashi. Of all people, Kakashi was there when he needed a ride to get somewhere.

He opened the door and the house was dark which was weird. He closed it softly behind him. Maybe Kakashi was sleeping, he didn't want to wake him up. Was he sick? Was everyone sick? Was Itachi okay? Was he sick or hurt so didn't answer the phone? Was Lee okay? Gaara's annoyance dissipated and he was left with anxiety over thinking everyone died.

He walked to the steps and heard something coming from Lee's room. Odd. Lee was home and still didn't answer his phone? That didn't sound normal for him. As Gaara got closer to Lee's room he thought he heard his name being said. He paused on the steps and listened closer. He was pretty sure he heard it again. He slowly walked up the steps. Was Lee hurt? For whatever reason could he not talk and he just kept mumbling Gaara's name in hopes he would be home? Gaara was more nervous now. Suddenly his name was spoken at a louder volume. Gaara knew he wasn't hearing things this time so quickly went to Lee's door. Should he knock? No. Lee said his name so he must need him. Gaara grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open.

It was like everything happened in slow motion. Gaara suddenly was able to pick up every tiny detail in this moment which was weird for him since he was completely unperceptive. 

First, Gaara noticed Lee's laptop. The screen was kicked to the side a bit and Gaara knew that was a picture of him. Interesting. Second, Lee was naked. Very naked. He sat on a towel but that was about it. Gaara saw for the first time, every muscle Lee had. And he had quite a bit. His body was covered in either sweat or he was still wet from the shower. Third, Lee was touching himself. Gaara saw how red and swollen Lee's cock looked and was intrigued. Itachi's never seemed to look that... angry. Lastly, Gaara noticed the expression on Lee's face as he finished. He saw the strange way a cock would throb and the erratic way it would shoot out cum. He watched it get on Lee's fist and over his stomach. 

Sure, Gaara had seen Itachi's face, up close and personal, in fact. There was something different about Lee's expression. Something... arousing? Gaara didn't know. His own body felt weird. He felt uncomfortable in his skin.

All this examining and it only happened in the matter of maybe 5 seconds. Gaara was just hyperaware. Having all this happen made Gaara completely forget about everything he was feeling before and now he was just confused.

Lee saw Gaara walk in as he was finishing. He didn't know if Gaara had impeccable timing or if he was completely unlucky. In his post-ejaculate bliss, he couldn't really jump up like he wanted to but he did cover himself with the towel he was sitting on and slammed his laptop shut with his foot.

"Gaara!" Lee went through puberty years ago, but the way his voice squeaked made it seem unlikely that he ever did. Gaara saw how Lee's face turned red and how it went down his shoulders. Lee was absolutely mortified. The only thing that kept him from doing anything completely irrational done with embarrassment, was the fact that Gaara didn't look disturbed. He just seemed... curious.

"Ino did say you used my pictures, didn't she?" He said in a flat voice. Lee didn't understand how something so embarrassing could happen to him.

"I-I-I am so s-sorry." Lee stuttered out, he was sure he would die with how hard his heart was beating.

"Don't be." Gaara said evenly, his lips were frowning though. "In fact, thank you."

"T-thank me for what?" Lee asked, confused and still incredibly embarrassed. Gaara shifted on his feet, looking down. He seemed to be shaking his legs out. "What are you doing?" It was strange that the embarrassment was like an after thought after watching Gaara shift his weight on his feet and shake them out. 

"It's just a weird feeling in my legs." In one movement, Lee wiped his hand off and jumped off of his bed, forgetting to put the towel on.

"Are you okay? Do you need a doctor? Do you need to sit down? Would you like to take a bath? Should I bring you to the ER?" Gaara was always impressed with how quickly it took Lee to bounce back. He was still staring at the ground, but in his peripheral vision he saw Lee's feet, he had pretty long toes, actually. His nicely muscled legs and his groin which again, was different than his own. 

"No I'm fine." Gaara looked up to face Lee and saw every curve of every muscle with his eyes on the way up. God, Lee was gorgeous. Gaara's face heated up. There was an unfamiliar feeling inbetween his legs. He'd been hard before, yeah. But he was never aroused before. Especially to this extent. He looked at Lee's face with a beautiful blush on his cheeks. Lee looked at him concerned. "I'm pretty sure you just turned me on." Lee's body stiffened and Gaara turned around and walked to his bedroom and closed the door, as if he didn't just say anything to Lee, nor did he see Lee touching himself. Lee honestly didn't know how to react or what to say. Only thing that was for certain, he thought he couldn't get more turned on before? He clearly just needed to wait 10 minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **VOTE TIME**
> 
>  
> 
> Since y'all suck and couldn't say the same thing, we have to vote on the roles so here we go. 
> 
> **Option one**  
>  Belle- Sakura  
> Gastion- Itachi  
> Lefou- Gaara  
> Lumiere- Lee
> 
>  **Option 2**  
>  (MALE)Belle- Gaara  
> Gastion- Itachi  
> Beast- Lee  
> Lefou- idfk Sakura lol
> 
>  **Option 3**  
>  Belle- Hinata  
> Gastion- Lee  
> Beast- Itachi  
> Lefou- Gaara
> 
>  **Option 4**  
>  Belle- Sakura  
> Gastion- Itachi  
> Beast- Gaara  
> Lefou- Lee
> 
> THESE ARE YOUR ONLY OPTIONS. YOU CAN'T MIX AND MATCH. JUST REVIEW AND WRITE WHAT YOU ARE VOTING FOR (You can write more than that in your comment but that's pretty important if you'd like a say in it) To placate the other options, whichever ones don't win, there will be a chapter dedicated to the characters reading lines from people they won't be playing.
> 
> Also, there is a possibility that I won't update for a while. My laptop charge port is fucked and in order to write I need to cross my legs, put my laptop on my knees, bend the cord the opposite way and wrap it around my toe and lift up my leg slightly. As great as I am with flexibility, I'd like to not do that anymore lmao. I'll update you on the length of time it'll take. Just come back and visit the story and I'll write how long I'll be right under this paragraph. Thanks!


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompts- SASUNARU PROMPOSAL
> 
> Option 2 had the most votes. You've upset my husband. He said it was the most cliche option. I told him it didn't matter. (His pick was number 1 lol)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Rae** : I'm thankful too tbh. (Never heard of that meme before so I'm a little sad. I feel like I know all memes. No memelord here D:)  
>  **RainiDayz** : I feel that though. I think it would be a great opportunity for their chemistry to be shown and I can finally write them kissing again because of the scene and I'm so happy. (Sorry your oneshot is taking so long. My laptop sucks and I wrote 4 pages in and had to stop to read some Destiel to get my soul back into it lol. It's been a while since I've read/written Destiel!)  
>  **Leah** : Oh man, I love me some Gaara. He's bae.   
> **Halpmehpls7580** :I'm sorry the one you voted for lost :( It would've been interesting though. All of the options were good. I'm still sad Gaara isn't LeFou I was so looking forward to that.  
>  **Niomi Jones** : Thank you for your comment and vote, dear! I'm glad you like this story and I'm glad you like my other two GaaLee stories! Thanks for reading!  
>  **uurahara** : Since option 3 didn't win I'm not adding Hinata in the story just yet. She is scheduled to make an appearance though, just later on. But I did consider her for the role! Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the prompt ;)

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Orochimaru and Kabuto got in touch with a large portion of the people who tried out. Most of their decisions were made, but there was still some final tweaking. They figured if they could get everyone in to do a reading for each part they were looking for, they'd be able to make their final decisions. 

The theatre had a rather large back room behind the stage where the actors could sit and wait for their parts. Kabuto set up the large table with several chairs and got out several practice scripts for the read through. Eventually, Orochimaru came back, leading a line of people and they sat down. 

Sasuke was with Itachi for whatever reason and sat next to him. Gaara sat in-between Itachi and Lee. There were about 10 people there all-in-all. Lee was extremely uncomfortable when Sakura showed up and sat next to Sasuke. Gaara sighed. He didn't even know she auditioned.

"Alright. Thank you everyone for coming. As you see, you have scripts in front of you with several characters. Since we had such a talented group of people, we would love it if you could read the lines of characters so we can make the final decision. Any questions?" No one raised their hand. "Great. Okay." Kabuto handed Orochimaru his clipboard. "Alright. Script number 3. Can I have... Mr. Rock Lee read for Gaston." Gaara couldn't help it, he snorted and Sasuke chuckled and Itachi smirked.

"G-gaston? Like the... the bad guy, Gaston?" Lee sputtered nervously, picking up the script.

"Yes." Sasuke covered his mouth, laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. "Sasuke, why don't you help him out and read for LeFou?" Sasuke was not laughing anymore.

"But I'm not even an actor-"

"Sasuke." Itachi said coolly and Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Go on, Lee."

"Okay..." Lee cleared his throat and his cheeks turned pink. How should he talk like Gaston? "Look at her, LeFou. My future wife. Belle is the most beautiful girl in the village, that makes her the best." Lee's lines were enunciated well, they just didn't have the grandeur of Gaston.

"But she's so... well-read! And you're so... athletically inclined." Sasuke read with a pout.

"I know. Belle can be as argumentative as she is beautiful." Lee's voice was just too chipper. Gaara nudged him under the table.

"Exactly! Who needs her when you've got us?"

"Yes." Lee said then cleared his throat again trying to make his voice deeper. "But ever since the war I've felt like I've been missing something! And she's the only girl that gives me that sense of..."

"Hm... Je ne sais quoi?"

"I don't know what that means." When Lee and Sasuke put their script down Gaara was shaking his head.

"Lee you do realize you were reading for the villain and not Prince Charming, right? You were supposed to be more... underhanded." Itachi explained calmly and Lee nodded but shrugged.

"It is a hard role for me to read." He admitted and Orochimaru wrote something on his clipboard and turned to Itachi.

"Itachi, please show us Gaston in script 2. Kabuto will be a stand in for Maurice and Sasuke, you've done such a great job with LeFou, why don't you just keep reading?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. Itachi cleared his throat and picked up his script. Gaara noticed that the calm expression melted off his face and was replaced with a scowl.

"I am done playing this game of yours! Where is Belle?" Itachi demanded and Lee flinched at the emotion in his voice.

"The beast took her and she..." Kabuto read, not with much emotion.

"There are no such thing as beasts, or talking teacups, or magic! But there are wolves, frostbite and starvation!" Gaara smiled at Itachi, he admired the way he could read a role that easily.

"Deep breaths, Gaston, Deep breaths." Sasuke said calmly and Itachi took in several deep breaths.

"So why don't we just turn around, go back to Villeneuve? I'm sure Belle is at home, cooking up a lovely dinner." The dramatic change of his tone was impressive.

"If you think I've made this up, why did you offer to help?"

"Because I want to marry your daughter! Now let's go home."

"Belle is not at home! She's with the..."

"You say beast one more time, I WILL FEED YOU TO THE WOLVES." Itachi growled and then put his script down, his calm demeanor present again. Orochimaru made a nod of approval and marked his clipboard. Lee sunk in his chair miserably.

"Okay, Gaara, why don't you try your hand at Gaston while we're here? And Sakura, please, read the role of Belle. Page 3." 

"Good morning, Belle. Well, wonderful book you have there?" Gaara already felt awkward reading and the fact that he was trying to woo Sakura wasn't that great either.

"Have you read it?" Sakura read, apparently feeling the same disdain as he did.

"Well, not that one. But, you know. Books... For your dinner table. Shall I join you this evening?"  
"Sorry, not this evening."

"Busy?" Gaara tried to push passed the negative vibes he was getting from Sakura and he sounded pained. Orochimaru thought he was trying to sound hopeful.

"No."

"Alright can we get..."

Going around the circle with no actual pattern, eventually the circle looped back to them and it was time to read some more.

"Lee we would like to hear you read for the beast." Orochimaru announced. "Page 16 please." Lee quickly flipped to the page. "And... well, it looks like all the Belles have read. Uh... Gaara. Can you read for Belle please?" Gaara stiffened in his chair but nodded, blushing heavily he flipped to the page. The beast's death scene. His heart clenched. This scene always upset him. Then he thought about how upsetting it would be to be Belle and have Lee dying on the floor. His throat closed up.

"You came back." Lee said through heavy breaths.

"Of course I came back. I'll never leave you again." Gaara's voice was strained, trying not to sound emotional.

"I believe it's my time to leave." Lee said quietly, Gaara's hands shook.

"We're together now. It's gonna be fine." Gaara insisted, a tad bit frenzied. 

"At least I got to see you one last time." Lee's voice cracked and he looked at Gaara, Gaara's eyes were glued to the page, his hands clenching the paper.

"No! Please no." Gaara covered his mouth to stifle a sound. "Come back. Come back. Please, don't leave me. I love you." The raw emotion in his voice made Lee tear up. He wholeheartedly hoped he would get to hear Gaara say that to him. He just didn't think it would be during a read through of a script where he died.

"Fantastic! Gaara! Lee! What emotion!" Orochimaru praised and gave Kabuto a look.

"That was fantastic." Itachi whispered to Gaara and just now noticed how shaken he was. "Are you ok?"

"I don't... like that scene." Gaara said quietly and Itachi squeezed his thigh under the table.

"Itachi we would like you to read for the beast. Gaara, since you did such a wonderful time before, do you mind helping him?" Gaara shook his head. "Great. Page 12."

"Ow!" Itachi hissed. "That hurts."

"If you held still, it wouldn't hurt as much." Gaara said testily.

"If you hadn't run away, none of this would have happened." Itachi retorted.

"Well, if you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!"

"Well, you shouldn't be in the West Wing!"

"Well you should learn to control your temper!" Gaara took a deep breath and looked resigned. "Try to get some rest."

"And lastly, Gaara can you read for the beast? Page 14. Lee, we would like you to read for Lumiere and Kabuto will read for Cogsworth." 

"Lumiere!" Gaara shouted and Lee winced, unprepared. 

"Be calm. Let me do the talking." Lee insisted.

"You're making her dinner?" Lee shrugged.

"We thought you might appreciate the company." He said easily.

"Master, I just want to assure you that I had no part of this hopeless plan. Preparing her dinner, designing a gown for her, giving her a suit in the East Wing..."

"You gave her a bedroom?"

"No, no no! He gave her the bedroom."

"Well this is true. But, if this girl is the one who can break the spell, then maybe you can start by using dinner to charm her." Lee said surprisingly naturally. "Good thinking, Cogsworth."

"What?"

"That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard, Charm the prisoner." Gaara scoffed.

"But you must try, master. With every passing day, we become less human."

"She's the daughter of a common thief, what kind of person do you think that makes her?"

Orochimaru and Kabuto realized there was a lot they needed to discuss.

"Well, thank you everyone. You've made our decisions easier. We will call you when the cast is up."

***

"So what are you thinking?" Kabuto asked and Orochimaru bit his pen quite aggressively.

"You know what I'm thinking." Kabuto nodded with a purse of his lips.

"Yeah. I was thinking the same. Do you think Itachi would even consider?" Orochimaru sighed and rubbed his temples.

"It isn't even Itachi I'm concerned about. It's Gaara. Would he even say yes to something so... strange?" Kabuto sifted through the audition notes.

"Well, all I know is of all the actors, we know that singing wise and now we know acting wise there are only two with an immense amount of chemistry. And that isn't Gaara and Itachi. They have chemistry, yes, but nothing quite like him and Lee." Orochimaru smirked at Kabuto.

"Don't tell me you're rooting for the underdog, Kabuto." Kabuto gave Orochimaru a dry look. "Oh hush now. I have to call Itachi and make sure he's okay with us offering the part to Gaara. Especially when we won't be casting him as the beast."

***

Gaara watched Itachi take a phone call a few hours later. He gave simple answers and remained completely stoic. He then asked,

"So would you like to talk to Gaara? He is with me now." Itachi waited a minute then handed Gaara the phone.

"Hello?"

"Gaara. Wonderful to talk to you. I would've preferred doing this face to face, however Itachi seems to want us to ask now. Out of curiosity, were there any roles that you really wanted?" Gaara frowned at the question.

"I would take whichever role I earned." Was Gaara's response. He didn't want to get a role just because his boyfriend was essentially in charge.

"Good. Because you've earned yourself quite an important role but we wanted to ask your permission before we cast you." This was strange. 

"Why would you need to ask permission?"

"Now, we aren't asking you to be a girl, we will simply change the script, you see, there needs to be more... representation. We're asking if you'd like the part of Belle." Gaara's eyes widened comically wide and Itachi couldn't hold his expression anymore and just laughed.

"B-belle?" 

"Yes, we were going to rename him Beaux. It would go with the character and his name still means beauty. What do you think?" Gaara turned to Itachi with a lost look. Itachi just smiled at him soothingly.

"You can accept if you want to. Or reject it. It's up to you." He held Gaara's hands tightly and Gaara swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly dry.

"I... There was no girl fitting for the part?" Gaara's thoughts flitted to Sakura. 

"No. None with any emotion like yours." Gaara bit his lip and stared at Itachi. He had no idea what to say. Belle? What an honor. He really liked the character. Could he bring her justice? Was he even good looking enough for the part? Who would play the beast? Itachi?

"Okay. I accept. Thank you for the opportunity." When Gaara hung up he was shaking and Itachi hugged him with the biggest grin on his face.

"Congratulations. I'm so proud." Gaara pulled away.

"Do you know the part you got?" Itachi nodded. "Who?"

"You'll find out. It was the part I would've liked to play the most." Gaara wondered if he meant the Beast or not.

***

Lee was sitting at the table with Kakashi and Guy talking and the conversation came to a lull when Gaara walked in.

"Oh Gaara! I was just telling them what a wonderful actor you were today!" Lee said excitedly. "I hope we find out our parts soon! I am excited!" Lee was practically bouncing. Gaara smiled nervously and Lee paused. "You know?" Gaara nodded and Lee jumped out of his chair so fast. "What part did you get?"

"You'll find out..." Gaara's cheeks were pink and Kakashi and Guy looked at each other confused. Why would Gaara get shy about his part?

Less than an hour later, they sat on the couch watching a movie and Lee's and Gaara's phones vibrated with an email notification. Lee jumped off of the couch.

"They emailed us the roles!" He said excitedly and clicked the download file option. He was bouncing. Gaara bit his lip, curious to see what Lee and Itachi got. Maybe Lee got Lumiere? He'd done a fantastic job with the quirkiness. What about Itachi? Was the part he wanted the beast? Gaara watched Lee's face turn bright red.

"What happened, Lee?" Guy asked. "Are you alright?"

"I-I-I..." He turned to Gaara. "You... You knew?" Gaara gave a curt nod and Lee covered his mouth, literal tears in his eyes. This confused Gaara. Did they cut Lee? Lee walked over and hugged Gaara tightly. "I am so honored!"

Gaara looked at the casting and was amazed to see that Lee was cast as the beast and Itachi was Gaston.

"So?? What did you two get??" Kakashi asked impatiently. Lee was just so excited.

"I was cast as the beast-"

"Oh my god, Lee! That is fantastic! Great job!" Guy praised and stood up and hugged his son. 

"Gaara is Belle." Lee finished and they paused, Gaara was blushing.

"Beaux, actually..." He corrected quietly. "They wanted to change her gender for representational purposes. I assume because the play is being done in June which is Pride Month."

"Wow, you must've really impressed them with your acting, Gaara. What a great opportunity." Gaara nodded, he was feeling light-headed about everything. Suddenly, Lee's phone went off.

"Hi Sasuke-" Everyone could hear him shout, even not being on speakerphone.

"I WAS PUT AS LEFOU. I DIDN'T EVEN AUDITION. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SHIT. NOW I HAVE TO SING ABOUT HOW GREAT ITACHI IS. I HATE EVERYONE." Gaara's phone started ringing.

"Hi Itachi." Gaara said softly, missing the look on Lee's face. "Congratulations on Gaston."

"Thank you. I enjoyed thoroughly pretending to be him. I can't wait to beg you for your affections on stage." Gaara blushed and chuckled.

"I can't wait to turn you down." Itachi laughed.

"I'm sure you can't. Have you told Ino yet?" Gaara paused. No, he didn't. He didn't even know what her reaction would be. "I'll take that as a no. At least you can guarantee she won't take it like how Sasuke is taking his role as LeFou. I would've rather you been my LeFou but you can be my Beaux."

***

Gaara couldn't remember the last time he was this tired. He went from school, to the theatre, to work, then home to sleep and all over again. Practice was every day for him since he was the main character and had he known how much work would be put into it, he wouldn't have accepted so easily. It was wonderful seeing Itachi and Lee every day for a few hours without fail, but it was still tiring.

The decision to cast him as Belle had become a theatre secret. No one was allowed to know. It was going to be a major selling point when they finally announced it on June first. Keeping a secret this long was hard. Luckily, he didn't tell Ino yet and no one told Naruto anything anyway. Kakashi and Guy were sworn to secrecy.

Eventually practices got better. After a few read throughs, they started to focus on individual scenes at a time. The downside was, sometimes Lee or Itachi weren't in those scenes so he would be alone with people he didn't know too well. He was assured that eventually the theatre-mates of his would become akin to a family of sorts.

***

Sasuke opened his locker on Monday and a note fell out. He'd recognize that messy handwriting anywhere.

_Sasuke,_  
**Will** you humor me with a little hunt?  
Follow the clues and you can bet  
So you better start off looking  
At the place where we first met  
-Naruto 

What the hell is this guy doing now? Sasuke put his books in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He'd taken his car to school today so this shouldn't be too hard. Where did they first meet?

"Playground in Elementary School." Sasuke mumbled to himself and set out to find the next note.

***

Looking around the playground hit Sasuke with so much sentimentality. He remembered standing on that very slide when he saw Naruto for the first time. It was after Sasuke's parents died and Sasuke climbed the tallest slide to get closer to the heavens so he could talk to them. There were kids who made fun of him for it and Naruto, not having any parents either, came in, guns blazing. Told everyone off and Sasuke sat on the top of the slide, crying. 

Eventually a playground aid came over to break up the altercation and Sasuke slid down the slide and stood next to Naruto, daring the teacher to get him in trouble. Even at that age, Sasuke knew the influence him and his brother held over town. Naruto was never given any sort of reprimand and Sasuke gained the best friend he ever had. 

Sasuke walked over to the slide, the one that seemed so big when he was younger. In reality, it went up to Sasuke's shoulders. A note was taped on the underside of the slide and Sasuke ripped it off.

_Sasuke,_  
**You** remembered, I'm impressed  
Even without the intention of a fight  
Speaking of which if we were to  
You know where we would, right?  
-Naruto 

"...Fighting?" Sasuke searched his brain for the answer and felt silly it took him longer than a second to think. "The dojo." Sasuke pushed himself down the slide and hurried to his car. It looked like it was getting ready to rain.

***

"I think Naruto put something in your locker." Kakashi said when Sasuke first walked in. Sasuke thanked him and quickly made his way to the locker, remembering the first time him and Naruto had a class together.

It was a few months after Naruto stood up for him and Itachi was swamped with piles of things to get done. The Uchiha family business needed to go on, he was only 16 years old and he was working full time and going to school. Sasuke frowned at the realization of what his brother went through to keep them from being separated. 

Sasuke told Itachi that he wanted to get fighting training because he wanted to stop being bullied. Itachi complied instantly and when Sasuke bragged to Naruto that he started Karate, Naruto was sad that he couldn't do it too. Sasuke was able to beg Itachi to pay for Naruto's lessons too. Sasuke couldn't believe how blind he was to everything his older brother did for him.

Sasuke sighed and walked to his locker and opened it. It was the locker next to Naruto's and through the holes he could see the mess that was Naruto's locker. Pressed on a sticky on the back of the locker was another clue. Sasuke picked it up.

_Sasuke,_  
**Go** to the parking lot  
It isn't too far  
You silly  
The third notes in your car  
-Naruto 

Sasuke growled and walked back to the parking lot and tore his car apart. When the hell did Naruto have time to put something in his car anyway?

Finally he found the note tucked on the visor of the passenger side.

_Sasuke,_  
**To** the park  
Where we went at night  
Remember your scream  
At the dying light?  
-Naruto 

Sasuke scowled at that memory. They were only 9 years old and Naruto convinced him they should sneak out of the estate to go to a park. The park wasn't far from the house, literally across the street. It was such an adventure for Sasuke though and they brought flashlights without checking the battery power.

Climbing through the broken remains of the old colonial aged houses that were still standing, the flashlight died and Sasuke let out a shriek being alone in the tiny house in the dark. Naruto got him out and they went back home, Sasuke always wondered if Itachi knew they left or not. 

And so, Sasuke got back into his car and drove to the park, radio on the entire time but Sasuke couldn't even imagine what they were saying. He was lost in thought. The skies continued to get darker and Sasuke hoped his windshield wipers were good enough for the eventual downpour.

He parked the car and wondered around the park for a bit until he came across the house. He climbed into the window and stood in the small space. The entire thing was probably only 8 square feet. It was small. Sasuke looked around and found the next note.

_Sasuke,_  
**Prom** worthy place, right?  
I thought so too  
I'm actually at your house now  
Waiting for you  
-Naruto 

Getting outside of the tiny house, Sasuke noticed it was already starting to rain. He looked across the street at his house which was closer to him than his car right now and made a mad dash. What the hell did Naruto think making him run everywhere like that?

Sasuke got to his front door and there was another note.

_Sasuke,_  
**With** how long I've known you  
You should know best  
I didn't mean inside the house  
But the spot that's best  
-Naruto 

Sasuke thought long and hard about this one. Where did Naruto think was best at his house but not in his house? He racked his mind for the answer and in his hurry, he forgot to open the front door to grab an umbrella.

Completely soaking wet and getting irritated, Sasuke finally remembered the place he had to go. The gardens. He changed his direction and made a mad dash to the gardens and hoped Naruto picked the gazeebo since it had a roof. He finally go there and Naruto was leaning against the gazeebo getting completely drenched in the rain. Behind him there was a sign that said 

**_Me?_ **

And Sasuke had no clue what that meant. He ran over to Naruto and Naruto laughed awkwardly.

"I didn't know it was supposed to rain today." He admitted awkwardly.

"Why are you standing out here and not under the roof?" Sasuke asked and Naruto shrugged.

"I made you get wet, I decided to get wet too." Sasuke blushed and nodded. "So?"

"So what? You dragged me here." Naruto looked at him curiously.

"I asked you a question in the notes." Naruto said slowly. "You didn't get that? I made it fairly clear." Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a wet pile of lumpy paper and Naruto groaned.

"Aw man. I was totally smooth and cool and everything."

"Well what did you ask me?" Naruto sighed and smiled.

"Sasuke, will you go to prom with me?" Sasuke knew he was still annoyed with Naruto, honestly he did, but the question just made that all melt away and Sasuke smiled, a real smile, and nodded. "Good because this was a pain in the ass to do. If you said no I'd be pissed." Sasuke hugged Naruto tightly. "Hey, are you gonna kiss me or something?" Naruto asked and Sasuke raised an eyebrow but before he could ask, Naruto said, "Cause I think I deserve one." Sasuke just laughed. What were the odds that this would be the end of his day? He grabbed Naruto by the sides of his face and kissed him. And rain fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be prom shit (buying stuff for prom idk if I'll fit prom into that chapter or not)
> 
> I need some help with prom.   
> *What colors should the characters wear  
> *Specific flower Lee buys for Gaara's boutonniere?   
> *Should Gaara and Lee match?  
> *What happens after prom?  
> *What happens during prom?
> 
> If you have any ideas, please let me know. My prom was boring AF so idk.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prom things and a banana costume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : YOU ASKED FOR IT YOU GOT IT. Like I said, I didn't want that to happen, y'all voted on it. (Still salty that Gaara isn't LeFou but I'll move on. Eventually.) And yes, Rae is correct. It's pronounced "Bo" or "Bo's" Depending on who is saying it. Here it is "Bo"  
>  **Rae** : I feel that. I don't remember doing anything on my prom. It was boring AF. All I remember is my dad drove my date and I in his 57 Chevy and that was awesome but that's it. Prom food sucked so... Debating having Gaara and Ino make the cake for prom. I don't see Gaara dancing well. I see Lee dancing well, maybe Sasuke. Naruto I see as spastic. Ino could probably twerk dat bootie tho. Naruto has to spike the drinks, it's important. The banana costume is cute. Everyone seemed to love it so there you go. I'd share my prom pictures but I was not cute in my first prom. (My dress was bomb tho) IDK if Itachi picks up Gaara or if Gaara and Lee do something after prom. Naruto is totes going home with Sasuke.  
>  **RainiDayz** : Such a good idea again. I love your ideas they're always on point. Thank you for your input always.  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : That is fantastic. Naruto will probably go to prom in a suit and rip off his suit randomly to reveal a banana costume or some shit and Sasuke's like "Well I can't be mad, he did wear a suit for a bit but how tf was he hiding that costume?"  
>  **Leah** : I kind of made them match? Idk they're christmas now tho. Thank you for your comment~!  
>  **uurahara** : I'M GLAD I WROTE YOUR FAVORITE CHAPTER. Tbh I can't even remember what my favorite is. Anyhoo, don't get too comfortable. They'll be fighting soon enough. Yes! Neji is scheduled to come in around August! (It's almost april so like 4 more months) I can't wait for him. I'm so happy. Thank you! I'm nervous to write the play. There's parts I'm unsure of how I'll write. (Like does Lee wax his eyebrows or does he just keep em like fuck it. I'm a prince. My eyebrow game is bomb, y'all just suck) I'm so glad I'm one of your favorite writers that's sweet of you to say!

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

"Please. Please please please." Naruto begged and Sasuke was about ready to shoot himself. He was glad for the reprieve when Lee and Gaara showed up. "Come on Sasuke! I never asked you for anything before!" Sasuke got an incredulous look on his face and just closed his eyes took a deep breath and shook his head. 

"What's going on with you two?" Lee asked curiously and Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"Sasuke is mean." Naruto explained simply and Sasuke gave a dubious look and just turned around to organize his locker, anything to keep him from strangling Naruto to death.

"What did you do?" Gaara asked and Sasuke hit his head against the locker.

"I said no to him wearing a fucking banana costume to prom." Sasuke said evenly and Lee furrowed his brow.

"Why would Naruto need permission to wear a banana costume from you?" Sasuke's face heated up and Naruto just grinned nervously. "What happened?"

"Oh. Uh. I kinda asked him to be my prom date." Naruto scratched his cheek with a laugh teetering on the edge of being a gleeful giggle.

"Congratulations!" Lee said happily and hopped up. "That is great news! Naruto, you do not get to wear a banana costume." Lee said simply and Naruto groaned and Sasuke smirked and thanked Lee for his input.

"What about you, Gaara?" Naruto asked desperately. "What would you do in this situation?" Gaara's arms were crossed and he looked up at Lee.

"I mean, as long as Lee matched my tux still..." Gaara then smirked and Lee smiled happily.

"Oh! We are going with matching suits?" He seemed so excited.

"Well, yeah. I'm you're date, aren't I?" Lee nodded enthusiastically. 

"Yes! You are! If you'll excuse me, I will be right back." Lee said, after spotting Ino and running off.

"What the hell was that?" Gaara shrugged. "So Gaara, if you and Itachi are a thing, why are you going to the prom with Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"Firstly, Lee asked if I wanted to go since all of my friends are seniors and I won't have anyone to go with for my prom next year. Secondly, even if I could invite Itachi, which I can't because I needed to be invited to the prom since it's a senior only event, I wouldn't be able to because he's too old." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Too old? How old is he?"

"Twenty-five." Sasuke said flatly. "Cut off is Twenty-one. After that, you're too old. Honestly, Itachi wouldn't like the prom anyway. It isn't really his style." Gaara nodded in agreement.

"But he isn't like mad you're going or anything?" Gaara shook his head. "Really? Why not?"

"Well I imagine part of it is I haven't given him a reason not to trust me. The other part is he is incredibly not jealous. Lastly, he wanted me to be able to go to prom with friends. I was pretty surprised too."

"Well he has to be really not jealous or else that kiss you have with Lee-" Sasuke cut himself off. He forgot Naruto didn't know about the play casting.

"KISS WITH LEE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Of course Naruto was the loudest person in the universe.

"Shut up!" Sasuke covered his mouth. "That was a slip up. You'll see. It's in the play. Don't say anything to anyone. Seriously, this is important. Got it?" Naruto nodded and looked confused.

"Why would you two kiss in the play anyway?" Sasuke shook his head and Naruto sighed. "Fine fine. I'll drop it."

***

"Ino!" Lee did a full skid stop and Ino paused in the hall and looked at him.

"Yes?"

"Did you get to order them?" Lee asked urgently and Ino pulled out her phone.

"I messaged you on Facebook, you didn't get it?" Lee grabbed his own phone and shook his head. Ino frowned. "Bummer. Anyway, I was able to get my parents to order a few different succulents and cacti for the nursery. They should be here in time. I begged them to get the fastest delivery. I told them it was a prom emergency. They should take it seriously. Thanks for doing all the work though and finding a grower." Lee nodded.

"I just want Gaara's boutonniere to be special. What better than cactus flowers?" Ino smiled and shook her head at him. "What?"

"It's just... You love him. I can tell." Lee's smile faded and he nodded slowly. "He loves you too."

"Did he tell you that?" Lee asked curiously and Ino shook her head.

"Not... in so many words. But I can tell. The way he talks about you. He has a lot to say about you... a lot." She gave him a look and his face heated up instantly.

"He told you-"

"-oh yes. Just assume he tells me everything." Lee nodded mutely and wondered why Gaara would tell Ino about such an embarrassing moment in his life. "He didn't do it to embarrass you, Lee." Ino said calmly. 

"Then... why?" Lee asked in a small voice. Ino giggled and it made Lee self-conscious. 

"He called me literally right after it all happened. I'm sitting in my bed and I see my boo callin' so I answer and he said 'Ino, I have a situation' and I'm like 'ok honey, what's the tea' and he was like 'you need to stop calling it that' and then we argued over slang and then he said, word for word, 'I'm fairly certain I'm aroused.' And I was like what the fuck. 'why are you calling me? Go back to Itachi. Do yo thang.' And he said he wasn't with Itachi and I was like 'then what got you all hot and bothered?' and he said 'Lee.' Then he told me what happened and I was like 'oh shit' and then he told me how hot you are so there's that." Ino then unwrapped a granola bar and acted like she didn't drop this complete bomb on Lee's life.

"Gaara... Thinks I am hot?" Lee said slowly and Ino nodded.

"Oh yeah, big time." Lee seemed confused. "What?"

"He... Well... I do not know how to word this. Uh, Gaara made it seem like he does not get... excited often..." Ino nodded.

"No. I was right next to him when Itachi sent him some bomb ass pictures and nothin'. He sees you playing with yourself for like 3 seconds and all of a sudden he knows what the key to life is. I'm not sure." Lee bit the inside of his cheek and thought, not even bothered anymore about Ino knowing all this. (Well, he was bothered but he had other things to focus on now.)

"Gaara... thinks I'm hotter than Itachi?" Ino let out a long sigh.

"Man I shouldn't have even said anything. I got sentimental because you're trying so hard for prom. No more questions. I can't throw my boo under the bus... But yes, he thinks you're hotter than Itachi. I said none of this. Goodbye." Ino walked away and Lee felt so lightheaded he could faint.

If Gaara thought Lee was sexually attractive, did that mean... Gaara loved him?

***

"So are we going alone or is Itachi coming?" Ino asked, last period in the library. There was no swim practice today so they wanted to go get their prom things.

"He insisted he wanted to go. I didn't say no because I know he can't go to the actual prom so maybe he wants to feel included in the prom somehow." Gaara said and Sasuke sighed.

"If you two are going that means I'll probably go. Naruto has practice today. Loser." He glanced over at the other table where Naruto was annoying Sakura.

"Sasuke, why are you over here if you and Naruto are talking?" Gaara asked and Sasuke shrugged.

"I suppose your conversation topics are usually more entertaining than listening to that loud mouth and Sakura hit him for it." Ino nodded her head. Personally, she preferred 100 Narutos to one Sakura but whatever. 

"Is Lee going to be here or what?" Sasuke shook his head.

"No. Since he had a free period, his coach asked him to help out with some things for the game tomorrow. I guess they all got their new gear and Lee has to organize it or whatever. He's setting aside everyone's order and writing their name on it so they can just grab it and go."

"What are they ordering?"

"You've never done a sport?" Gaara shook his head. "Well, usually for some sports they offer you additional uniforms or other attire. Like, for Soccer I ordered a sweater, socks, and another jersey. Lee loves the school athletic attire so I can only imagine how much he ordered."

"We should do that for the play." Gaara said suddenly. "We should have the front be the Theatre logo with Beauty and the Beast and the back should be our name or our character name." Sasuke nodded.

"I'm sure Itachi would love a sweater that said his character on it." Ino giggled.

"I don't know who playes who. You never told me who got the parts." Gaara bit his lip.

"I'm not allowed to." Ino looked surprised.

"But... you tell me everything." She said and Gaara looked at her sadly.

"I want to, I really do, but I'll get in a lot of trouble. They want it to be a surprise. It's a really good surprise and I don't want to ruin it for you." Ino groaned.

"That's so lame though. I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything." Gaara gave her a look. "Fine..." She huffed and pouted.

"Thank you, Ino. I still love you." She said nothing and Gaara smiled. "At least I found the off button." She glared. "That's the spirit."

Towards the end of the period, Lee ran in with a rather large bag. He was grinning widely at the table and Ino was suddenly struck with the memory of her telling him everything she shouldn't have and wondered how their interactions would change.

"Hello. I am here." Lee sat at the table and Gaara grabbed the bag from his hands. Lee just smiled and didn't protest the rude, yet familiarness of Gaara. "Just some Lacrosse gear. Do you know they have Letterman jackets for varsity Lacrosse? Because I did not." Gaara pulled it out of the bag and unfolded it, uncaring that he messed up the rest of the neatly folded pile. "You should try it on." Ino noticed the lovesick way Lee looked at Gaara and how Gaara didn't even realize. 

"Oh Gaara, you in a letterman jacket. That's so cute. Especially because you'd never get one from playing sports yourself." Ino teased and Gaara glared at her, he supposed this was revenge for not telling her about the cast.

"Oh, Lee, we were just talking earlier about the possibility of getting sweaters or shirts made for the play. Like with your character's names on the back." Gaara informed and Lee perked up. He had a sweater collection and he liked to keep feeding into it. 

"I would love nothing more than a memory of playing this part forever." Lee admitted softly.

***

"Okay, so you guys can go do whatever and Gaara and I are gonna get my dress together. Bye." Ino waved at Itachi, Sasuke and Lee. She dragged Gaara off by his wrist.

"Good luck." Itachi said with a smirk, Gaara frowned.

"I will call you when we're done. I don't think that will be for a while." And off he went. 

They walked into a store specifically for dresses and Gaara just stared wide-eyed at all the options. Ino sifted through dresses quickly and Gaara wondered what her preference was.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Ino smiled.

"I'd like a long empire dress, I don't care what the top looks like at this point, as long as it makes my tits look nice I'm good. And I want purple." Gaara nodded then realized he had no clue what empire dress meant.

"What's-"

"Like that one on the wall there." Ino pointed without looking and Gaara saw a dress that was more form fitting and not poofy. He began walking around the store and looking through dresses while Ino looked on the other side. He picked up several purple dresses on the way and walked back over to Ino a few minutes later. Ino had a few dresses herself and smiled at him.

"You know my dress size?" Gaara stared at her blankly.

"Of course I do you leave your shit at my house all the time." She stuck out her tongue and grabbed the dresses from him.

"Let's see how these look on me~!" She walked to the dressing rooms quickly with Gaara trailing after her. "Excuse me, can you unlock one of the doors please?" 

"Oh wow. You have manners." Gaara murmured and Ino kicked him. "And they're gone."

The woman walked over and unlocked a door, then counted Ino's dresses. She looked back up at Gaara and frowned.

"He won't look good in purple." She stated and Ino turned to Gaara and giggled. She was 100% right though, Gaara's red hair and aqua eyes would look hideous with purple. 

"He isn't my date, he's my best friend." Ino informed and the woman nodded.

"Ah, apologize. Nice of you to accompany her on her prom dress adventure. You must be a good friend." Gaara crossed his arms and sat on the couch.

"That's what I keep telling her." Ino rolled her eyes and went into a dressing room.

***

Two hours later and Gaara wanted to hang himself using any dress he could get his hands on. Ino disapproved of some really great dresses for the tiniest reasons. Oh, this dress has a weird flower. This dress makes my hips look too wide. This dress is a few shades off of the color I wanted. 

At this point, Gaara was just lying on the couch staring at the ceiling praying for the gods to take mercy. Yes, he could talk to Ino for hours. But sitting on a couch, barely speaking to her while she came out and showed a different dress every 7 minutes was not his idea of a good time.

Suddenly his phone went off and he turned it on. A picture text from Lee. He opened the message and Lee and Itachi were holding vests and ties. One set was dark red and the other was dark green. The green had a bowtie and the red had a regular tie. The text said 'Would you want to look like Christmas with me??'. Gaara chuckled and for the first time in two hours felt like he wasn't going to die.

***

Gaara and Ino were walking around the mall a half an hour later without a dress. Ino didn't like any of them. Gaara didn't understand. How could someone spend so much time looking for a dress, leave without one. There was still another store they had to visit to find a dress. In the meantime they wanted to get something to eat since it was now 5pm. They met the rest of the group at the restaurant in the mall. Gaara smiled at them and wanted to run over and beg them not to force him to go dress shopping again.

All of them were holding a bag. He wondered if they got their prom things ready before he could even look at prom things.

"What do you have?" Gaara asked and Lee opened his bag and pulled out the vest sets and Gaara looked at it with a smile. He took off the cover and felt the materiel. Smooth. 

"I hope you do not mind that we got it already. You can try it on and let us know if it needs to be returned or not." Gaara nodded.

"I'm not picky. Thank you, you didn't have to buy it." Lee just smiled and looked at the menu.

"What did you buy, Itachi?" Gaara asked and Itachi smirked. "...Please don't say you bought me something." Gaara said and the smirk widened. "Something expensive?" Itachi handed him the bag and Gaara saw that it was a shoe box. He pulled the shoes out and opened the box. Leather shoes, Gaara could smell it. They were beautiful. "Itachi..."

"You need them. For prom. Right, Ino." He looked to Ino and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah. Like a rule or whatever." Itachi chuckled and Gaara sent a glare to Itachi then a resigned sigh.

"Thank you." He really did appreciate the shoes but it was hard to accept such nice gifts. 

"Okay, Ino." Ino looked to Itachi. "We need to get them fitted for their tux'. You're going to have to wait for Gaara for a half an hour or so. Then you can steal him back to get a dress. I can't believe you haven’t found one yet."

"My mom always told me not to buy a dress in the first store unless I checked the others." Gaara sighed for what seemed like 20 minutes.

"Hey, don't you guys have practice today?" Ino asked and Itachi shook his head.

"No." Lee said. "They are doing songs today that we are not in." Gaara frowned.

"Technically I'm in it."

"Yeah but you don't sing in it you're just there. They aren't going through the dance routine just making sure everyone can sing." Itachi said simply.

"Okay can we order? I'm hungry." Sasuke said, annoyed with all the prom talk. Fuckin' Naruto and his damn banana costume.

"What's bothering you, little brother?" Itachi asked and Sasuke glowered.

"Naruto." He said simply and Lee smiled.

"Is this because he still wants to dress like a banana for prom?" He asked and Sasuke groaned.

"Now he evolved. He said I should dress up too. He wants me to be Gumby." Everyone laughed but Gaara who had no idea who that was. "Don't laugh. It's so annoying. He's annoying. Why did I even agree to go to prom with him?"

"Because you ~love~ him." Ino sang and Sasuke glared at her.

"You're going to prom with Naruto? You never told me." Itachi said with a frown and Sasuke's cheeks turned pink. "Congratulations, you must be very happy... aside from the banana and Gumby of course."

***

"Lee is totally in love with you." Ino said randomly as she went through dresses. Gaara paused and looked at her confused. "I mean it."

"Well we knew he liked-"

"No." Ino cut him off. "He doesn't just like you, Gaara. I don't think he's going to get over you when he goes to college. You know that, right?" Gaara frowned and looked at the ground.

"I don't know what to say to that." He said quietly and Ino sighed.

"It's just difficult. It's a hard spot to be in. I love you and I know you'll make every decision you can that is best for you. If it isn't being with Lee now, that's the right decision. I'm not telling you this so you break up with Itachi, Itachi is totally smitten with you too. I'm just letting you know. And I know Itachi knows Lee is in love with you too which is super nice of him for even hanging out with Lee."

"Itachi has known Lee since he was 16. He wouldn't just-"

"Listen, honey. If there is a threat to my relationship, I won't befriend it. Bye Felicia." Gaara looked at her odd.

"Who is Felecia?" Ino ignored the question.

"Who do you want to sleep with?" She asked and Gaara stopped moving.

"What?"

"It isn't a difficult question to decipher, Gaara." Ino said bluntly. "If you had to sleep with one of them right now, and it could be either, relationship or not, doesn't matter, who would you sleep with?"

"Lee." Gaara said simply and then paused and covered his mouth with a blush. "I-I didn't-"

"Gaara. It's fine. I'm your best friend. You could literally fuck Lee and then Itachi and then tell me you cheated on Itachi and I would still think you were in the right." Well, if there was one thing he could say about Ino, she was loyal. "But I totally need to see a picture of Lee now that you described him to be some type of muscular god."

"I didn't..." Gaara trailed off. He kind of did. "Lee wouldn't just send me a picture of himself. It isn't like him." Ino just smirked.

"I'm sure I could convince him." Gaara blushed.

"Ino! No!" She groaned.

"Come on! It'll be for when you need to get turned on. Think of how useful that'd be." Gaara gave her an evil look and didn't respond. "How fair is it that he has pictures of you and you have none of him?" She didn't say anything about the look Gaara had. One that was essentially 'you're right'.

***

It was time to leave the mall. Ino still didn't have a dress, Gaara, Lee, and Sasuke all had everything they needed. Itachi was just glad to leave the mall. 

Gaara walked up next to Itachi and Sasuke. Ino fell back with Lee and Lee knew she wanted to tell him something so he slowed down so they made their distance between the other three farther.

"Yes?" He looked at her and she smirked at him. "What? This does not seem good."

"Oh no, trust me it's good." Lee's face blushed and he waited. "Gaara and I were just talking about how unfair it was that you had pictures of him but he had none of you." Lee blushed darker.

"No. H-he didn't. Did he?" Ino just smirked smugly and said nothing else and walked to meet up with the rest of the crew.

Lee walked slowly in the back. He wasn't sure what to do. Did Gaara really want pictures of him? Why? He continued to stare at the back of Gaara's head while they walked up front and Ino turned to face him and gave him a thumbs up.

***

Lee stood in his room without a shirt and with sweatpants on. He was holding his vest and tie and decided that him and Gaara should switch. He walked to Gaara's room and entered without knocking since the door was opened already. Gaara sat at his desk carving something and Lee smiled at him. Gaara looked up, surprised for a moment about Lee's lack of clothing.

"Hey Gaara. I was thinking, what if we switched ties? This way we kind of match." Gaara nodded mutely and Lee walked over to him and put the red tie around Gaara's neck and tied it. Gaara couldn't take his eyes off of Lee and Lee was very concentrated on getting the perfect knot. Gaara examined how Lee's muscles moved and when he took in a deep breath through his nose, he was ambushed with the smell of Lee. His heart hammered in his chest and he could feel the strange burn of desire going to his groin. He shifted in the chair uncomfortably and Lee pulled away once the knot was tied, and noticed the look on Gaara's face. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Gaara said quietly. 

"Are you sure?" Lee asked again and his eyes wandered down. Gaara was wearing pajama pants that were incredibly loose so it didn't really contain anything. Lee's breath got caught in his throat and he felt as if he'd run out of air.

Ino was right. Gaara did find Lee hot. Lee just didn't know how to react to it. A large part of him wanted to do anything he could to make Gaara lose control. He couldn't though. He couldn't push himself on Gaara when he was in a relationship. The thought made him sad. He wanted Gaara so badly.

"Would you like me to leave?" Lee whispered and Gaara nodded stiffly. "I am sorry." Lee blushed and left the room quickly, shutting the door behind him. 

Gaara stared in his wake trying to control his breathing. This feeling was so uncomfortable and last time it took forever to go away. He just kept thinking of Lee's face when he finished and the way his muscles tensed up then relaxed. Gaara let out a shaky breath. He grabbed his phone and called Ino.

"City Morgue, you kill em, we chill em." Ino said and Gaara groaned.

"Ino."

"Gaara."

"Lee." 

"What? Did he send you sexy pictures? Can I see?"

"No. He came into my room shirtless to put a tie on me and now..."

"Jesus, Gaara. Why don't you jerk off like every other guy and stop calling me when you get erections."

"I don't know how and speaking to you seems to make them go away."

"Thank you. Just what a girl wants to hear. It isn't hard. Have Lee show you."

"Ino." 

"I'm just trying to help you here. You can always call Itachi. I'm sure he'd suck you dry too."

"Ino!" Gaara's face brightened.

"What? Why call me if this is your response each time? I'm just tryna get you laid, damn. Give me a minute, I'll call Lee and make him send you some dirty pictures as inspiration."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm a good friend!"

"Ino! No-" and she hung up. Gaara groaned loudly and heard Lee's phone ring through the wall.

"Ino? Is something wrong?" Gaara jumped out of his chair and ran into Lee's room and grabbed the phone from Lee.

"No, Ino!"

"Aw come on!" Ino whined. "It'll be so good for you! If I have to hang up here I will call Itachi."

"Good luck he won't answer." Gaara just realized he was standing in-between Lee's legs while Lee sat on the edge of the bed and they looked at each other awkwardly. "Ino I have to go." Gaara hung up the phone and put it at Lee's side, unmoving from where he stood. "Sorry about her." Gaara's voice was barely above a whisper.

"It's fine." Lee responded quietly, still looking directly in Gaara's eyes. 

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked and Lee smiled wistfully. 

"Not particularly." Gaara frowned at that and Lee sighed. "You should go, Gaara. I only have so much self control." Gaara nodded slowly and left the room. Lee stared at his door as Gaara closed it gently and rubbed his face like crazy. "I don't know how much longer I can take this..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so after the play there is going to be a lot mentioned about instagram (This will make sense later) tell me what are good usernames for our favorite group of friends and how much you think they're on social media. (No one can say Lee doesn't have an instagram with so much spam of him and Gaara, I will fight you on this)


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some much needed smut. Getting ready for prom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **uurahara** : Thanks. Prom night is not something I'm looking forward to writing since I have no idea what happens still lol. Super stoked for the beginning of prom tho.  
>  **RainiDayz** : Thank you for your ideas! And they live in the town Freytown. The Freytown Foxes!  
>  **Rae** : Mine is Smoresies. I use the same shit for everything. #followme I'll totally make it O.G.ROCKLEE. It rhymes. You're going to love Naruto's username. ilu2. Don't worry, he's in his tux. For now.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I'm trying to find the perfect one for Ino still. But you're right. Ino would totally make Gaara's account.  
>  **Leah** : noooo he doesn't lose control. Lee is working very hard on his self control. (Actually he may lose it at some point but you'll have to read and find out~!)  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Yeah it is. I found my dress in the first store though. I didn't want to be dress shopping. I love it but each time I had my boyfriend with me and it was terrible. I'm glad you like Ino! She is a mix of my friend Jenny and my friend shae. She will have a lot to say about that lol

Chapter Thirty-Eight:

"Are you alright, Gaara?" Itachi asked and Gaara rubbed his face. He just got off of work and Itachi swung by to pick him up so Gaara could spend the night. 

"I'm okay. Just prom things."

"What happened?" Itachi asked and soothingly held Gaara's hand as he drove.

"Now they're saying it's a masquerade ball theme and I'm just irritated that they didn't say that before. The prom is tomorrow and I just wanted everything to be done with. I don't know how I'm going to find a mask in time." Gaara rubbed his temples. "Was your prom this stressful?"

"I didn't go to prom." Itachi said evenly. "I was too busy with the business to go. I don't regret it. I heard there was a lot of food poisoning."

"Were you dating anyone then?" Itachi shook his head. 

"No. I only had a few people I dated but around that time I was alone. I was too stressed out to deal with anyone." Itachi pulled into the driveway and Gaara climbed out of the car and grabbed his bag from the back.

Itachi led Gaara inside and Gaara said hello to Sasuke and Naruto while they sat on the couch watching a movie then headed upstairs. All he wanted to do was take off this damn chef jacket and take a nice shower. Itachi had the best shower.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked when he walked in and saw Gaara unbuttoning his jacket.

"I want to take a shower." Gaara said with a frown and Itachi walked over to him and pinned him to the wall.

"In just a minute. It's been a while since we've been alone." Itachi captured Gaara's mouth with his own and let his hand run up Gaara's chest over his jacket. "And the other day, you looked really sexy in your tux." Itachi whispered to the shell of Gaara's ear. Gaara shivered at the contact and Itachi kissed him aggressively again. 

"Do you want to shower with me?" Gaara asked when Itachi pulled away for a second. Itachi's expression changed from lustful to something more sweet.

"Won't you be uncomfortable?" He asked and Gaara looked down at Itachi and shook his head slowly. They'd been together for four months at this point. Gaara's body kept reacting to Lee's, he just wanted to see if it would react the same to Itachi's too. "Are you sure? I would love to but I don't want you to feel weird."

"I'm sure. Let's go." Gaara led him into the bathroom by the hand and Itachi was thrumming with excitement. Gaara had never been naked around Itachi before.

Itachi took off his shirt and turned on the shower. He knew Gaara liked it super hot because every time he used the bathroom after Gaara took a shower there was steam everywhere. He turned around and Gaara was unbuttoning his chef jacket and tossed it to the floor. Itachi didn't realize Gaara didn't wear a shirt under his jacket. He then kicked off his pants and stood in his underwear. Itachi quickly tugged off his own pants and walked over to Gaara and smiled at how short he was.

"Now's your chance to change your mind." Itachi whispered and Gaara smirked at him. Damn that smirk drove Itachi wild.

"I can handle being naked around you. I trust you." Itachi smiled and kissed Gaara tenderly. That was the closest to an I love you Itachi ever got. 

While they kissed, Itachi's hands held Gaara's hips in place and his thumbs sunk under the top of his underwear. He pulled them down slowly and Gaara made no objections and even stepped out of them. Itachi took off his own underwear while they were still kissing and he pulled away and looked at his boyfriend naked for the first time. Gaara's face was pink and he didn't make eye contact but Itachi didn't mind. He had no reason to be shy. 

Gaara was beautiful. His skin was light and soft despite the many scars that he refused to talk about with Itachi. The red hair on his legs was such a contrast compared to his skin. Itachi let his eyes admire Gaara's cock. He'd never seen it before. He saw the curls of red hair that surprisingly matched the hair on his head very well. His cock itself didn't seem like much, he wasn't hard, but Itachi loved it all the same. He wondered if he could ever turn Gaara on or if it was just a thing that would never happen.

"You're beautiful, Gaara." Gaara looked grumpily at Itachi.

"I'm not beautiful, I'm a guy." He argued and Itachi laughed and picked him up and brought him in the shower. 

"You're extremely handsome then." Itachi pushed Gaara to the wall and wrapped his hands under Gaara's butt, Gaara wrapped his legs around Itachi's hips and Itachi whimpered at the brush of Gaara's cock against his own. Itachi could feel the goosebumps Gaara got on his skin and couldn't help the instinctive buck of his hips that let him rub against Gaara again. "God, I want to taste you so bad." Itachi groaned into Gaara's ear. Gaara blushed and looked at Itachi confused.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked and Itachi smirked. He loved how innocent Gaara was. 

"I wish I could put your cock in my mouth and suck you until you cum." Itachi explained simply and nibbled on Gaara's neck and shoulder. Itachi's fingernails dug into Gaara's skin on his thighs as Itachi sunk his teeth into the nape of Gaara's neck. Gaara moaned and Itachi shuttered at the noise and licked the water off of Gaara's neck and collar bones. Gaara was squirming under him and Itachi stopped what he was doing and stared at Gaara. "Are you getting hard?" He whispered and Gaara's face was red. Itachi gave an honest smile and kissed Gaara while smiling. Gaara wasn't sure if Itachi would get him hard but for whatever reason the roughness Itachi had with his body just made his body react. The biting, the scratching. Who knew?

Gaara's thoughts wandered to Lee and Lee's expression when he came. Gaara wondered if he would have an expression that erotic. He wondered what it would be like to see Lee cum again, if it was even possible to see or not. What Gaara would give for the jolt he had in his body after witnessing it. It was like a high. He'd never been that turned on before. 

"Gaara." Itachi's voice was muffled against Gaara's skin as he gave tiny love bites all over Gaara's torso.

"Yes?" Gaara's voice cracked and Itachi looked up at him.

"You're so hard right now. Can I touch you?" Gaara paused and was unsure what to say. Should he? How did it feel to orgasm? He didn't know. Gaara nodded tentatively and the smiled that spread across Itachi's cheeks was beautiful. 

Itachi's hand was gentle, soft even. The first tug was strange, foreign even. Itachi had a very slow rhythm going.

"How does it feel?" Itachi whispered and Gaara shrugged.

"Weird." Gaara admitted and Itachi nodded.

"Can I try to taste you?" He asked and Gaara thought 'why not' and gave a shaky nod. Itachi got to his knees and looked up at Gaara in the eyes and Gaara watched Itachi take most of his cock into his mouth. 

The feeling was warm and wet. Itachi's tongue moving over his head made Gaara briefly weak in the knees. Gaara couldn't describe the feeling. He was thankful for how gentle Itachi was being. Everything was so new he didn't know how to react.

"Relax. Sit down." Itachi instructed and Gaara was thankful for the obnoxious large shower with seating in it for whatever reason Itachi had for this exact moment. He sat down and Itachi situated himself in-between Gaara's legs and continued. "Close your eyes. Relax. You're thinking too much. Stop thinking." Gaara didn't want to close his eyes. He knew what would happen if he did but he listened to Itachi anyway.

He thought of Lee. Not even anything sexual, at first. Just Lee's eyes, his hair, his kind smile, his laugh. Lee training at the dojo, Lee's fight with Sasuke, Lee rolling out pie shells. Lee's muscles, Lee's arms, his chest, his legs, his cock. Lee blushing when Ino called him out on jerking off to Gaara's pictures, the strange feeling Gaara had when he heard that. Hearing Lee moan Gaara's name. 

Gaara fisted Itachi's hair, not knowing what to do with his hands but needing to grab something. He needed to be rough with something. He wanted to bite something. He clenched his teeth and pulled on Itachi's hair a little more aggressively than he should've. He felt the vibrations of Itachi's moan so he supposed Itachi didn't mind too well. Gaara opened his eyes and looked down to look at Itachi. The expression of concentration on his face, his hands were pushing Gaara's thighs apart. His hair was down, wet and all over his back. 

Sitting down, looking at Itachi, Gaara couldn't sit still. He needed something more. He pushed Itachi away and Itachi looked at him confused and Gaara gently moved him to the floor. He straddled Itachi's hips and kissed him roughly, biting his lower lip and sucked on it hard before moving away, kissing down his neck and biting him. Itachi writhed under him as Gaara ran his nails down Itachi's chest and bit him.

"I can be more rough." Itachi said with a strained voice. He hooked his arms under Gaara's and held onto his shoulders and dug his nails in and scratched all down Gaara's back. He felt the indents in Gaara's skin where the scars were, but wasn't worried when Gaara let out a shaky moan and kissed him again. He pushed Gaara to the side to climb on top of him and bit and sucked his way down to Gaara's thighs. He knew the inner thighs were very sensitive and Gaara leaned on his elbows and watched with a hazed over expression. Itachi licked and kissed every inch of skin on Gaara's thighs and bit down harder than he intended but Gaara's head fell back and he let out a long shaky breath and Itachi saw how engorged he was. A part of him wondered why Gaara liked it rough so much. He assumed since Gaara only wanted to have sex with someone based on love, he would only want sweet, slow and passionate sex. That was not the case, apparently.

Itachi licked up the underside of Gaara's cock and slipped it into his mouth and scratched Gaara down his chest. Gaara bucked his hips which was new and Itachi smirked at him. He was losing control. Itachi was so turned on right now he was sure Gaara could blow on his dick and he would finish. Gaara was so hot underneath him. 

"I-Itachi." Gaara gasped and tugged on his hair again.

"What?" Itachi asked and Gaara whimpered at the loss of contact and Itachi chuckled and sucked on Gaara again. Gaara wriggled, he looked uncomfortable.

Gaara closed his eyes tightly. The feeling in his groin was painful and tight and he didn't like it. There was so much tension but he wanted more. Itachi's tongue felt like heaven but Gaara still couldn't concentrate on anything passed the scratching of his inner thighs. 

Suddenly he felt wound so tight there couldn't possibly be more and Gaara's fingers curled tightly in Itachi's hair and his toes curled and his body just tensed up really tight and then Gaara was overcome by a wave of pleasure and his body relaxed. Gaara felt exhausted. He was breathing heavily and he rubbed his face, briefly feeling a numbness there. Itachi was staring at him with a smirk on his face and at that point Gaara couldn't formulate words. He just sat on the shower floor, panting. Itachi pulled him in and Gaara curled up on his lap. He noticed Itachi wasn't hard anymore.

"What about you?" Gaara asked breathlessly and Itachi laughed.

"I finished when you did. I couldn't hold back anymore." Gaara looked up at Itachi and the shower water sprayed all over them.

"Well... I think I'd like to try touching you sometime." Gaara said softly and Itachi kissed his forehead.

"Whenever you're ready. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere." Itachi promised and they continued to just sit in the stream of hot water.

***

When Gaara woke up, Itachi was nowhere to be found. He went downstairs, no, he went into the piano room, no. Finally he bumped into Sasuke.

"Where is Itachi?" Sasuke shrugged and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Gaara sighed and went back upstairs and just now noticed a note.

Gaara,  
I went to get something at the store. I'll be home soon.  
-Itachi

Well that would've been helpful to find ten minutes ago. Gaara picked up his phone to call Ino. She should be up, it was 10. 

"Freytown sperm bank, you squeeze it, we freeze it."

"Ino."

"Gaara."

"Itachi gave me a blowjob." Ino stayed quiet on the other line for a while.

"...Well?"

"Well what?"

"Is that it for the details? What, do you think I'm a guy? You know I need details." Gaara bit his lip.

"We took a shower together and then we made out and then he gave me a blowjob... I don't know what more you want to know."

"Well like, was he good, or?"

"You say that like I have ample blowjob stories to compare it to."

"Good point. Well, did you like it?"

"I mean..."

"You came." Ino finished simply.

"Yes."

"You're so eloquent. You'll have to tell me all about his gorgeous mouth later. Are you going to the salon with me today?"

"Why would I go to the salon?"

"Well I need to get my hair done."

"Don't you have female friends?"

"You are my female friend."

"I hate you."

"I know. I'll pick you up at 12. We have to be ready at 4 to be picture ready. Parents cry and take six thousand pictures, it's embarrassing really. Anyway, while I'm getting my hair done you can get a pedicure of something."

"What is a pedicure?"

"You seriously didn't ask me that question, did you?"

"Ino I want to go eat. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Call me when you're ready for me to pick you up. I don't want to show up in the middle of a blowie sesh."

"What the fuck is... Never mind. Goodbye Ino." She giggled and said goodbye and Gaara hung up his phone. He stared at the ceiling, now having time to think. He thought about the night before for a while. It was nice but he couldn't help the feeling of guilt. He wished it would go away. It was heavy.

Gaara shook his head and left to go to the kitchen.

When he got there, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on the barstools talking and drinking something. They looked up at Gaara and stared at him. Gaara stared back.

"Yes?"

"Come on, man. Make us breakfast. We've been waiting for like ever." Naruto complained and Sasuke nodded. Gaara sighed loudly.

"Fine. I'll make breakfast but it won't be done for a while."

"Yes!" Naruto cheered and ran off.

"Can you invite Lee if we're going to eat breakfast? I feel bad he isn't here." Gaara said and Sasuke nodded and dialed his number. Gaara decided it was only fair if he called Ino to invite her too.

"Yamanaka whore house, you got the dough, we got the ho."

"Ino."

"Gaara."

"When will you run out of those, anyway?"

"I dunno. Probably never. Thought you were gonna eat."

"Well I have Naruto and Sasuke here and they want me to cook breakfast and Sasuke is inviting Lee so I decided to see if you wanted to come join us."

"Hell yeah I do. Want me to pick up some coffee?"

"If you wouldn't mind. I want-"

"Shut up, I know what you want. Don't insult me. Bye boo." She hung up before he could say goodbye.

***

"Lee's here!" Naruto shouted loudly.

"Naruto! Shut the hell up!" Sasuke yelled back and Gaara rolled his eyes. He didn't know how those two were together. Were they together? Gaara wasn't sure.

"Hello! Thank you for the invitation." He heard Lee's voice from the front door. Gaara's heart skipped and he concentrated extra hard on cutting the potatoes. "Oh, Gaara. It is lovely to see you." Gaara looked up at Lee who was in his Wrestling sweatpants and his dojo sweater.

"Nice to see you too, Lee." Gaara said softly and Lee sat down on the barstool at the countertop Gaara was working at. "Did you get dropped off or did you take the car?"

"Oh I took Kakashi's car. I do not see Itachi's car in the driveway?"

"He went to the store. I don't know why. He said he'd be back soon." Ino walked into the kitchen holding two cardboard drink holders. She had six drinks and plopped them on the counter. Gaara grabbed his thankfully. He could tell it was his since Ino drew a huge heart on it. "Thank you, Ino."

"Oooo breakfast potatoes." Ino sat next to Lee. "This ones yours." She pointed and Lee smiled at her.

"Thank you very much, Ino." She nodded and turned her attention back to Gaara. He was seasoning the potatoes and tossing them in oil. He then put them on a pan and threw them in the oven and started cutting apples. "What are you making, Gaara?"

"Fried apples." Ino made a noise of delight.

"Oh I love friend apples." Gaara's eyes looked at Ino but his face didn't move. 

"I know." He continued cutting and she smiled at him.

"You're the best."

"I know."

***

Right before Gaara was done with the rest of the pancake batter, Itachi walked into the house with a bag.

"Hello everyone." He greeted pleasantly. Gaara wondered if Itachi's clear good mood had anything to do with the night before. Usually Itachi was a lot more closed off around everyone else but he was openly smiling. He walked over to Gaara and kissed him on top of the head. "Sorry about that. I had to pick something up for you."

"What?" Gaara looked at him confused. "You didn't need to get me anything." Itachi pulled two boxes out of the bag. He handed one to Lee and one to Gaara. Gaara and Lee looked at each other curiously and opened the box.

A masquerade mask. Gaara's was green, like his vest. Lee's was red, like his. 

"Thank you so much, Itachi!" Lee exclaimed. "I did not know we had to wear masks until yesterday and by that point I did not know where to find them."

"It's not a problem. I wanted your prom to be special." Itachi smiled at Gaara and Gaara blushed and hugged Itachi tightly.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome. Now, you should probably flip that pancake it may be burnt." Gaara jumped over to the stove and flipped the pancake but Itachi was right. It was burnt.

***

"I AM STUFFED! THANK YOU GAARA!" Naruto yelled and Sasuke shoved him slightly.

"Naruto you're so loud in my ear." He said with a frown. "But yes, thank you Gaara."

"My boo can cook~!" Ino held up her coffee cup in a mock toast. "Anyway, it's almost time to go. Gotta get my hair done. Are you coming?"

"Do I have to?" Ino gave him a look and he sighed. "Let me get dressed." Gaara pushed himself away from the table to hurry and get changed. Lee began clearing the table and Itachi followed Gaara back up to the bedroom. 

"When will you be back?" Itachi asked and Gaara pulled off his shirt. Itachi saw the scars and more prominently, saw the swollen scratch marks down his back and all over. He wondered if they hurt or not.

"Whenever the fuck I can be back. I don't even want to go."

"I know. Stop being Ino's best friend and you won't have to go." Gaara just sighed and looked for a shirt to wear. "Did you forget to pack clothes again?"

"...yes..." Itachi chuckled and walked to his wardrobe and gave Gaara a nice polo shirt and a pair of jeans that Gaara would have to roll up since Itachi was a good 7 inches taller than him.

"You look so cute in my clothes." Itachi said with a smug smirk. Gaara frowned at him. "Sorry, I used the word cute."

"Yeah yeah..." Gaara sighed and slipped on his socks. Suddenly he was picked up and thrown onto the bed. "Itachi." Gaara whined. "I have to go."

"A few kisses didn't kill anyone." Itachi said simply and Gaara rolled his eyes but kissed him anyway.

Finally, Itachi let him leave and he walked Gaara to the door. Ino was already set to go. Itachi walked them to the car and before Gaara walked to the passenger side, he turned to Itachi and wrapped his arms around his neck, bringing his head down for a kiss.

"Bye. I'll see you soon." Gaara waved and Itachi waved back.

***

Lee felt sick every time he saw Gaara and Itachi together. He hated it. It wasn't even like he could hate Itachi either. Itachi was genuinely nice. He was a good person. Most importantly was he wanted what was best for Gaara. He always put Gaara above himself. Plus, growing up was tough and Itachi helped him a lot. It was strange. It was like having a big brother steal your girlfriend or something. He didn't know who to be upset with. He looked outside as Gaara and Ino left feeling sad because Gaara didn't say goodbye to him. Then Gaara kissed Itachi and it was as if his world shattered. 

Lee wasn't stupid. He knew Gaara and Itachi had to at least kiss. They probably hugged, held hands, cuddled. He wasn't sure on the sexual aspect of things but he knew for a fact they had to do those four. The thought bothered him but it made him sad to even see the smile Gaara gave Itachi. It made Lee remember that no matter how many moments him and Gaara had together, Itachi had the rest. 

"You okay?" Sasuke asked and Lee jumped. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"N-no. It is fine. I was just not... prepared."

"I noticed. You were too busy looking at Gaara and my brother." Lee's frown deepened. "It's okay to be upset but they've been together for 4 months now. Aren't you used to it? Didn't it get easier?" Lee sighed.

"I hoped it would but that was a silly thought. As it turns out, it is impossible for it to hurt less. Sasuke, I love your brother, I do. And I hope the length of time he is with Gaara, they are happy. But I promise to you, I am going to marry Gaara. I know this for a fact." Lee swore and Sasuke frowned.

"What about college? Do you think you two will grow apart?"

"Yes. We will. But that does not change how I feel. When you meet the person you are destined to be with, you know. And I know in my heart that Gaara is my special person." Sasuke nodded. He understood where Lee was coming from. But he wasn't entirely sure if Lee was right or not. Who knows what college would bring? For now, Sasuke didn't question it. He just agreed with Lee. He knew nothing would change, right now, how Lee felt.

***

When Ino and Gaara were done at the salon, they swung by Ino's house to grab her dress and makeup. Then they headed back to the Uchiha estate and Gaara helped Ino bring her dress in as she brought in her shoes and make up.

While Ino got ready in the bathroom, Itachi was helping Gaara fix his hair. Itachi was able to get it straight and he parted it down the side. He brushed his stray hairs out of the way and pushed them behind Gaara's ear and smiled when it brought out his kanji tattoo.

Itachi helped Gaara get dressed into his tux. Pants, white dress shirt, forest green vest, red tie, jacket, red handkerchief in his pocket.

"You look very handsome." Itachi whispered and kissed Gaara's cheek. 

"Thank you." Before Gaara could kiss Itachi, Ino walked out of the bathroom. Her purple, sparkly dress looked beautiful on her. The intricate braid they did with her hair at the salon was beautiful. Ino's eye make up was a smoky eye with black eyeliner winged out and on top was another wing, this one was silver and sparkly. It really made her blue eyes pop. Her dark red lipstick looked gorgeous. Her dress hugged her curves and the bottom splayed out on the carpet since she wasn't wearing her shoes yet. "You look fantastic, Ino." She smiled and did a twirl.

"Thank you, boo. You look very dapper." She pinched his cheek and he glared. She pulled out her makeup bag. "Hold on. Let me fix your eyes..."

It was strange, Ino looked at the clock and her eyes were wide and she rushed out of the room, calling someone on her phone.

***

Everyone was downstairs, dressed and ready to go. The parents were invited to come take pictures of the kids in the gardens. Ino was talking with her mom about something when Guy and Kakashi pulled in with Lee in the car. Lee hopped out and quickly made his way to Ino. Ino handed him something discreetly. At this point, Temari, Shikamaru and Kankuro showed up.

Sasuke and Naruto were both wearing the same styled suit. Naruto's was white, Sasuke's was black. Naruto's vest was orange, Sasuke's was blue. Gaara watched Sasuke pin a boutonniere on Naruto's lapel and Jiraiya was taking pictures and being really weird and emotional. Gaara didn't understand. Then Naruto pinned one on Sasuke. Gaara looked down at his tiny box and hoped Lee would like the red rose he got for his boutonniere. He figured it would be a cute idea considering the play. He walked to Lee and took the boutonniere out and Temari squealed happily and he was sure her, Itachi and Kakashi were taking plenty of pictures. After the flower was pinned, Lee chuckled.

"I like the red rose. Is it enchanted?" Gaara smirked, loving how Lee understood his reference. Lee pulled out his flower and Gaara's eyes widened. It was an eroica flower. One of his favorites. How did Lee know? "You grew up in the desert and I wanted to get you something that would remind you of there." Lee said softly and Gaara smiled softly. Ino was right. Lee was in love with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, for the comments in this chapter, I'd really like to see some new people. 4 more comments until the next oneshot winner, after this it'll be every 100 comments until I can keep up lol. I'm only 8 pages in on the first oneshot. I don't want to do the next one until the first is done.
> 
>  **What I would love to hear from you...**  
>  You don't have to answer them all if you don't want but I'd love it if you did!  
> 1) Between Gaara and Lee, who do you find yourself liking more in the story?  
> 2) Who is your favorite supporting character (essentially anyone but Gaara or Lee)  
> 3) What was the most memorable part of this fic for you?  
> 4) If you had to describe this fic to someone to try to convince them to read it, what would you say?
> 
> Literally for no other reason other than I'd like to know. Anyway, I love you, especially my 6 constant reviewers. You should see me after I post a chapter. I count you. Like "Oh, there's Rae. Just waiting for Luna to comment and I have the whole gang" lmao. Y'all are the best.
> 
> Stay gold, ponyboy.


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PROM IN ITS ENTIRETY 
> 
> This chapter took two hours to write :) Kill me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for you nice words! It was great to read why you felt certain ways about things. Thank you for that! I know I usually respond individually but I'm so tired of writing right now. Just know I love and appreciate you all.
> 
> The winner of the third oneshot is **Rae** Thanks a bunch! Just lemme know what you want.
> 
> I'm pretty sad I didn't hear from anyone new last chapter! Leave a comment! I won't bite. My other constant reviewers are still alive lol

Chapter Thirty-Nine:

The amount of pictures taken was disgusting. Ino was right to give them an hour for just pictures. Temari and Kakashi were the worst though. And then Lee and Guy started crying for whatever reason and everyone got a lecture on youth.

"Is he always this extra?" Ino whispered and Gaara nodded with a sigh.

"He's the most."

Sakura showed up finally, looking as elegant as ever. She hugged Naruto and Sasuke and gave Lee an awkward smile and he waved back, feeling uncomfortable with how she stared at him. Ino stood by Lee to talk to him, trying to distract him while Gaara and Itachi stood off to the side talking. 

A limo parked out in front of the house and Itachi did his best to get the kids away from the adults because he was sure that it was always possible to have more pictures taken. Parents were pretty crazy. He hugged Sasuke and pat Naruto on the shoulder.

"Have fun, Sasuke." He smiled softly and Sasuke nodded and hugged his brother. "Naruto, you make sure my little brother has a good time or I'll kick your ass." Itachi threatened and Naruto just grinned at him and they climbed in the car. Ino was talking to Lee as they both climbed into the limo and Gaara looked up at Itachi. "I want you to have fun too." Itachi whispered and Gaara nodded slowly. 

"I wish you could go with me." Itachi smiled regretfully.

"It would be the only prom worth going to, if I could be your date." Itachi rubbed Gaara's cheek.

"Will you kiss me goodbye or no with all of the people here?" Gaara asked and Itachi chuckled.

"If you want me to kiss you I will. I always want to kiss you." Gaara nodded and Itachi leaned down and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "Now go have fun. Enjoy yourself. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"I will. Bye." Gaara kissed him one last time, and got into the limo and closed the door. 

***

The drive there was kind of awkward because no one knew what to say. Lee was trying his best not to be upset about seeing Gaara and Itachi kiss. Ino was annoyed that she was sharing a limo with Sakura and she didn't get any pictures with her date since he was meeting her there. Gaara didn't know how to react around Sakura and Lee. Sakura was just surprised that Gaara and Itachi were actually together, she thought that was just a rumor. Then she remembered her and Lee broke up because Lee was in love with Gaara and they weren't even together, Gaara was with Itachi. She thought that was kind of cruel but Lee was still right by his side.

For whatever reason, Naruto looked uncomfortable. Everyone assumed it was because he was in a tuxedo but they would find out that was not the case soon enough. Surprisingly the only person that didn't feel any type of discomfort, was Sasuke. 

"How long does it take to get there?" Ino asked 5 minutes in and Sakura sighed.

"Fourty-six minutes from my house so from Sasuke's probably about an hour." Ino groaned.

"Can we get McDonalds?" Naruto asked and Sasuke looked at him funny. "What? I really want a McFlurry."

"I don't think the limo can fit through the drive through." Sasuke said with a sigh.

"That's cool. I'll go inside." Naruto put on his blue mask and put Sasuke's orange one on Sasuke. "We can look like superheros!"

"You look like a fucking loser." Sasuke said blankly and Naruto giggled.

"Oh shit." Gaara's eyes widened and he pat his pockets down.

"You forgot your mask, didn't you?" Ino asked and Gaara bit his lip. Lee stared at the worried expression for a moment before he could snap himself out of the daze and pulled the mask from his pocket. "Look at Lee being a good date."

"Thank you, Lee." Lee smiled at him.

"Yeah, no problem, Gaara." Gaara put his mask on and looked over at Lee. The green mask made his hair look even more red. Plus, it brought out the green tones in his eyes. He was so beautiful. Lee blinked and tried to get himself out of his thoughts. He pulled out his own mask and put it on. Gaara's tiny grin meant everything.

"Red looks good on you." He complimented and Lee beamed.

"Green looks fantastic on you." Ino and Sakura exchanged a look and then looked back at the two totally not flirt.

"You need a room or something?" Ino asked dryly and they both blushed and looked away from each other. The only thing Sakura could think about was if they so clearly liked each other, why was Gaara with Itachi?

"OH LOOK! MCDONALDS! COME ON CAN WE GO? PLEASE? PLEASE PLEASE?" Sasuke let out a long sigh and knocked on the window and the chauffer rolled it down.

"Can we stop at McDonald's before Naruto has a stroke?" The driver nodded and pulled in and Naruto whooped.

When the car was parked, Naruto climbed over Gaara's lap to get out of the car and Gaara just stared at him as he ran inside.

"Should... should we follow him?" He asked and Ino frowned.

"He probably shouldn't be left unattended, honestly."

And that's how the group found themselves in McDonald's dressed to the nines in masks. Lee heard a child whisper "are they superheros?" and couldn't fight the grin on his face. Gaara shook his head with a smile at Lee's excitement.

They all got back into the limo with more McDonald's than they should've bought and there was a content silence as they ate their food. Naruto sat closest to the window dividing the cab with Sasuke next to him. Sasuke was eating a McChicken wrap and Naruto had probably about 40 nuggets for whatever reason. Sakura was sitting on the opposite of them next to Ino. Sakura was eating a Caesar salad and Ino ate a Big Mac with apparently no concern to her lipstick. Lee and Gaara sat next to each other on the back seat, Lee leaned on the left side door and Gaara was sitting pretty close to him. They got two large fries and dumped it in the bag and they were sharing French fries. Ino couldn't handle when they started feeding them to each other. Her and Sakura looked at each other again. It had to be bad if she needed validation from Sakura.

"Naruto why the hell did you get so many nuggets? I thought you wanted a McFlurry." Sasuke asked when 15 minutes into the drive Naruto was still pulling nuggets out of the bag.

"I like chicken nuggets, Sasuke. What are you the nugget police?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and stole a chicken nugget from him. "Hey!"

"Shut up. There's still like 18 in there." Naruto frowned as he slowly ate another nugget, looking at Sasuke in the eyes.

"There's actually 23." Sasuke just stared at him. Where the hell was he fitting all of these nuggets? How was he skinny?

Finally, the limo pulled into the hotel drop off area and they all climbed out. 

"Wow, classy." Ino commented and Sasuke pulled out his phone.

"I'm pretty sure my brother got us a room. He said he didn't want us driving since he was fairly certain Naruto was going to be spiking the drinks." Everyone stared at Naruto and he smiled sheepishly and tried to hide the huge bottle of vodka.

"Why don't we just drink in the room instead of you wasting it on a bunch of random people?" Ino asked and Naruto made a thoughtful expression. "Who did he get the room for?"

"Us. Like, all of us." That was the first time Gaara heard about it.

"There's a room that fits 6 of us?" Ino asked and Lee looked confused.

"Would it not be 7 with your date?" He asked and Ino shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I'm going to check in and we'll see the room then. Naruto, don't let them see the vodka, for the love of god." Naruto saluted and they all walked into the lobby in awe. This hotel was gorgeous. 

Sasuke walked back with three key cards.

"This was all I could get. I'll keep one, Lee you can keep one and Sakura can keep one." Ino pouted at not getting a card but knew she wouldn't get sympathy from Gaara, whom also didn't get one. "Should we check it out?"

"Duh. Where else are we hiding the vodka?" Ino said obviously and Sasuke led the way to the elevator.

"The top floor? Tell me Itachi didn't get us the fucking penthouse suite." Ino said and covered her mouth excitedly.

"Probably. He did say he wanted this prom memorable for us. Mainly Gaara, but ya know. At least we get to tag along." Sasuke smirked and Gaara just blushed and looked down. He couldn't contemplate someone spending so much money on him.

They got to the top floor and there was only one door. Sasuke looked at the key card and the number matched so he opened the door and pushed it open. The main room was beautiful with large opened windows that overlooked the city. There was a fireplace and a few couches with a large TV mounted to the wall. To the left was a kitchen that had everything in it and a hallway. Down the hallway there was three doors. The left one led to a large bathroom, the one on the right was a bedroom with two full sized beds and the one straight was the master bedroom with a king sized mattress that also had a bathroom attached. On the opposite side of the suite, there was a door that led outside to the beautiful deck. There were chairs and a Jacuzzi that Naruto cried about because he didn't bring anything to swim in. The door across from the deck was another bedroom with one queen sized bed.

"Should we pick our sleeping arrangements now?" Naruto asked and everyone shrugged. 

"That depends on who plans to get laid tonight." Ino cut in and Sasuke and Naruto blushed. "Is that a yes~?"

"No!" Sasuke snapped and Ino giggled.

"Okay well Gaara and I can share a bed." She held his arm and Lee frowned but didn't object. Lee can have a full sized bed, Sakura can have a full sized bed and you and Naruto can get the king sized bed. Okay?" Everyone shrugged but Lee and Gaara both felt extremely uncomfortable at the aspect of Lee and Sakura sharing a bedroom. Gaara scolded himself on that but didn't say anything.

"Let's get to the prom. Naruto, put the vodka away." Sasuke said and everyone left to the elevator.

***

The first part of prom was everyone getting sat down for dinner and who knew there was a seating chart? It took 17 minutes to get everyone at the same table after asking, begging and just switching seats without anyone knowing. The order went: Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, Gaara, Ino, Ino's date and an empty chair.

"When is your date getting here?" Ino shrugged but didn't look too concerned. "Well he better hurry! Food isn't served until everyone is here and I'm starving."

"Naruto. You literally ate like 40 chicken nuggets." Naruto glared at Sasuke and mumbled "39..."

"Oh well excuse the fuck outta me." Sasuke responded and Lee's leg was bouncing.

"Are you okay?" Gaara whispered and Lee just frowned at him and didn't say anything. "Lee?"

"Hello! Sorry I'm late!" Ino looked up with a grin and everyone looked at the source of the voice.

"Sai!" She jumped up and ran around the table to hug him.

"You look beautiful, Ino!" He said with an easy smile and she giggled. Gaara just looked horrified. When did Ino giggle like that?

"You look handsome! Sai these are my friends." Ino introduced and he waved and took his mask off so he could see them batter. Gaara was surprised how much he looked like Sasuke, honestly. "This is my best friend though, Gaara." She pointed to Gaara and Gaara removed his mask out of respect and shook Sai's hand.

"Ino tells me a lot about you." Sai said and Gaara smiled weakly.

"I'm sure she does, she doesn't shut up." Ino kicked him and he just smirked. 

"Pictures, guys!" She announced and they groaned but she took out her camera anyway and they all got in on the selfie.

"Hashtag Table-seven!" Naruto shouted and Sasuke pinched him. "Why do I put up with this abuse?" Sasuke kissed his cheek and Naruto's cheeks turned red and Ino got a picture of it and laughed happily.

They all sat at the table and Gaara put his mask back on. Lee pulled out his phone and turned the camera on and out of habit, Gaara leaned in and Lee smiled and they took a selfie. 

"No. I look awful." Gaara said and Lee playfully shoved him.

"You could never look awful." He said and they took another picture anyway. They then fell into a conversation that took them far away from the prom table. Gaara didn't even know what Lee was talking about at this point. He seemed excited about it. He was smiling and just the expressions that went across his face was enough to make Gaara smile.

Food was placed in front of them and Naruto excitedly ate way more than he should've. Ino could barely finish her plate and Sai said she didn't need to pretend to be full and then Gaara laughed because he remembered she ate two Big Macs on the way there so yeah she was probably full. If Sai thought Ino wasn't going to eat a lot to look thinner, he didn't know how much Ino could eat. Her and Lee were ridiculous with the scraps of food in the bakery. He didn't know who ate more.

"The chicken is really good." Lee said and cut a piece off, stabbed it with his fork and offered it to Gaara. Gaara ate it off Lee's fork, then cut off a piece of his fish and did the same.

"They look like more of a couple than Naruto and Sasuke..." Sakura muttered and Ino nodded.

"They aren't dating?" Sai whispered and Ino sighed and shook her head.

"No. Gaara is dating Sasuke's older brother. They're cute together. Hold on, I have a picture." Ino pulled out her phone and Sakura and Sai both leaned into the phone. Sakura had never really seen the two act as a couple besides a few hours ago when Itachi kissed him goodbye.

Ino pulled up a picture she took a week ago when they had a movie night at the Uchiha estate. Itachi's arm was wrapped around Gaara and Gaara was curled up under it and Itachi's legs were up on the recliner. They were sharing a blanket and Gaara's face was focused on the movie and Itachi was looking at Gaara with a tiny smile.

"Oh they are cute." Sakura said softly, trying not to let Lee and Gaara know they were talking about them.

"Right?" Ino agreed and Sai seemed confused. "What?"

"Then why do they act like that with each other?" Sai asked and Ino shrugged.

"They're totally in love but completely stupid. That's the best way I can describe it."

"And his boyfriend is totally ok with this?" Ino thought for a second and shrugged.

"Honestly doesn't seem to bother him. I think he knows Lee is going away for college. Gaara told me the college Lee applied for is 6 hours away. Maybe Itachi is just letting them hang out until then? I dunno." 

***

It was time to move to the ballroom after the ice cream buffet and Naruto was super excited and no one knew why. 

They all moved to the other room so the dining area could be cleaned and Naruto ran onto the dance floor and Sasuke just stared after him with resignation and made no effort to get him. Then, Naruto started stripping.

"What the fuck is your boyfriend doing?" Ino asked and Sasuke's face heated up.

"He isn't my boyfriend, he's my prom date." Was his response but he didn't give one for the actual question. Naruto pulled off layers of clothes, the teachers were too surprised to actually do anything and then he was... in a banana suit.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. I checked all of his bags to make sure he didn't bring that fuckin' thing and he was wearing it? I hate him." Sasuke gave up on life but Naruto was jamming out on the dance floor.

"Would you care to dance with me, Ino?" Sai asked and Ino smiled and nodded, she waved to Gaara as she walked off.

"Um..." Lee blushed when he looked at Gaara and it only got deeper when Gaara looked back. Gaara in the mask was just beautiful. Seeing his eyes in the shadow and then his bright aqua irises just popped out. "Would you like to dance with me?"

"I'm fairly certain that's something I agreed to do when I said I would be your date." Gaara said and held out his arm for Lee to take.

Neither of them noticed the stares they got. LGBT people weren't bullied in the school, but they were still new. No one made their life hell, they just didn't really see it much. Some people were more surprised they danced together instead of Naruto wearing a blue mask dancing in a banana costume.

***

As the party went on, Gaara became more uncomfortable. The amount of people around him was suffocating. He couldn't deal with it. He didn't need to excuse himself, right now Lee was dancing but with someone else. One of his other friends, Gaara didn't care.

Gaara quickly left the ballroom and went to the staircase and sat down, his heart was hammering. He pulled out his phone and called Itachi. He hoped Itachi was free.

"Gaara? How are you? Everything okay?"

"Just... a lot." Gaara said trying to even his breathing.

"Claustrophobia kicking in?" Itachi's soft voice asked and Gaara made a noise of affirmation. One of the things Itachi knew was Gaara had a phobia of being in enclosed spaces. He didn't know why. "Go to the room and relax. You don't need to be there right now. Is anyone with you?"

"No... I don't have a room card." Gaara's voice was small and Itachi told him to hold on. Gaara heard the front desk's phone ring and he heard Itachi talk to them on the other phone. He gave them some various information and then hung up.

"Okay, the front desk is waiting for you." Gaara thanked him and went to the front desk on shaky legs. The person at the desk gave him a card without a word and Gaara nodded his thanks and quickly went to the elevator and stared at the open doors. "Gaara?"

"I have to go in the elevator." Gaara whispered.

"I'll be right here with you. It's okay." Gaara slowly went into the elevator and pressed the top button. The doors closed and Gaara's breathing got heavier. "How has prom been so far? You've been gone for 3 hours."

"Fine." Gaara said quietly. "Food was good."

"I saw. Ino posts a lot of pictures on Facebook. I got to see you in some of them. You look very handsome."

"Thank you."

"Can Lee dance well or no?"

"He can. He's dancing with his other friends right now."

"What about Ino?"

"She's with her date."

"Would you like me to go there? I will, you just have to ask."

"No. It's okay. I'll be fine."

"When I booked the room, I made sure there were some pajamas for everyone. Why don't you relax and get into your pajamas?"

"You're the best, Itachi, you know that, right?"

"I'm only trying to be a good boyfriend." The elevator door opened and Gaara practically flung himself out of the elevator and quickly opened the door to the penthouse. 

"You are a good boyfriend. I'm out now."

"Good. The pajamas are all in the master bedroom. I left some bathing suits too for the Jacuzzi."

"Thank you, Itachi. I'm sorry, I'm feeling weird. I need to get off the phone. I'll text you."

Gaara hung up and steadied his breathing and went to the Master bedroom and opened the closet. There were several pairs of pajamas but suddenly, Gaara couldn't put them on. He was too tired. He sat on the bed and stared at the ceiling, even with his shoes on.

***

"Have you seen Gaara?" Lee asked loudly to Sasuke. Sasuke shook his head and started looking around too.

"Maybe Ino knows?" Sasuke yelled over the music and Lee nodded and went to find Ino. She was in the back, her and Sai seemed to just be talking and they weren't dancing. She was holding her shoes so maybe her feet hurt.

"Hey Ino. Have you seen Gaara?" Ino shook her head.

"No."

"I did." Sai said and pointed to the exit. 

"He left like 10 minutes ago. I haven't seen him come back. Maybe he went to the restroom?" Lee nodded and ran out of the room to the men's restroom. Nothing. Completely empty. Lee's heart raced. Where the hell could he be?

Lee walked around the lobby and even went outside. He couldn't think of anywhere else he could be. Lee checked his pocket and felt the key card. Gaara didn't have one so he couldn't be in the room. He decided to call Itachi. He knew he was being paranoid but couldn't help himself. He hoped he didn't freak out Itachi.

"Hello, Lee. How is Gaara doing?" Itachi asked and Lee's heart dropped.

"Oh... Um. Itachi, I do not wish to cause alarm but... I cannot seem to find where Gaara is. I have looked everywhere and I cannot find him-"

"Did you check the room?"

"I-I did not but he does not have a card so I do not know how he would-"

"Gaara called me like 20 minutes ago. He said he was feeling claustrophobic so I called the front desk and got him a key card. He should be in the room." Lee felt so much shame. Gaara could've told him that and Lee would've brought him to the room gladly. Why didn't he? "Lee, don't feel bad. Gaara didn't want to ruin your good time. Just go keep him company now."

"Y-yes. I will!"

"And Lee, if something happens, call me. I'll be there as fast as possible."

"I know you will be." Lee said softly. "Thank you, Itachi. I will update you on Gaara." 

Lee quickly made his way to the penthouse and opened the door.

"Gaara?" He called and wandered around the floor.

"What are you doing here, Lee?" Gaara asked and Lee hugged him tightly.

"I was so worried. I could not find you anywhere so I called Itachi and he told me you were here."

"Oh." Gaara frowned. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I just saw you having a good time. And I didn't want to bother..."

"Oh, Gaara. You would never bother me." Lee said honestly and led Gaara to the bed and they both sat down. "I was unaware you had claustrophobia. I am sorry, I should have paid closer attention."

"Don't apologize. It isn't your fault..." The look on Gaara's face just made Lee ask.

"Why? Why are you claustrophobic?" Gaara's heart skipped and his throat felt tight. Lee had never asked once about anything dealing with his father. Gaara felt it was time he knew something.

"When I was younger..." Gaara's voice cracked a bit and he cleared his throat. "When I was younger, I lived in the desert. I loved it when I was outside, for the most part I wasn't... My father, Rasa would lock me in a shed outside behind the house. It seemed the sole purpose of having it there was me because it was much too small to be used as a storage. When I was 8 I could lay down and touch one side with my head and the other side with the heel of my foot. It was really hot in there in the daytime and it was really cold at night, a lot of people don't know the desert gets cold at night, there's nothing there to absorb the heat so the temperature fluctuates a lot. I was down there and I felt like I couldn't move and it was so hot and it just brought me back to the shed and I couldn't take it so I left."

Gaara didn't look up, he didn't want to see any type of expression on Lee's face. He knew Lee would be upset but honestly, Gaara wasn't upset right now. He didn't cry when he thought about his past. He knew it was shitty but didn't think he deserved better. His past made him the person he is today and if the person he is today made him have the friends he does now, he would endure the shed all over again.

Lee hugged him. Gaara could feel that Lee was trying not to show Gaara he was crying but Gaara could tell by the way his breathing was uneven and choppy. Lee just held him tightly and Gaara let him hold him. Lee have the best hugs and even though Gaara wasn't sad about his past, it was still nice to be shown that people loved him enough that they wouldn't let it happen again. 

Lee always felt as though you shouldn't show your enemies any additional anger or hatred. All that changed when he thought of Rasa.

"What about your scars?" Lee asked and it surprised Gaara. He knew he had scars on his back but since Lee never mentioned them, he assumed Lee didn't know, he knew it was stupid but it was just how Gaara thought.

"I don't want to talk about them yet." Gaara whispered and Lee nodded.

"Your tattoo?" Lee asked and Gaara held his breath. 

"Lee, I don't know... if you can handle the story." Gaara said slowly and Lee sat up straight and looked at Gaara, now more than ever, needing to know the story. 

"Please." Gaara took in a deep breath.

"I was 6..." Gaara started slowly and all of a sudden, Lee knew he didn't want to hear the story. Any story about a tattoo shouldn't begin with being six. "I... It's a hard story to tell in general. When I was six, it was my mother's birthday and my father was mad at me as he always is on her birthday and my birthday. But my uncle was there, up to this point, my uncle Yashamaru was the only person to take me out of the shed and play with me. For the longest time, I thought he loved me. He would tell me about my mother and it was almost like seeing my mom through his eyes. I'm unsure how it changed but that specific birthday of hers they were just... angry and hateful. I was in the shed all day and then my dad opened the door to yell at me. This time, Yashamaru was there and I felt justified. My father told me he hated me and no one loved me, I told him Yashamaru did and my dad laughed. I looked to my uncle for support and he just shook his head at me. He told me he never loved me and my dad decided I needed to be reminded that no one loved me. He took out something sharp, it wasn't a knife, I cant remember what it was, but he carved love into my forehead and I couldn't see out of my left eye because there was so much blood. Then my dad said that he carved love on my skin where I could see it everyday to remind me the only love in my life was the one he mutilated me with." Lee didn't say anything for a while. He was very carefully breathing in his nose and out of his mouth. Gaara felt him shake. Gaara continued with the story. "For a while I had a really ugly scar on my forehead. One day, Temari decided to bring me to her friend who did tattoos and he gave me the tattoo so it wasn’t an ugly sunken in scar on my forehead but something that looked like I did on purpose. After she hugged me and told me she loved me but this wasn't until I was 14 or so."

"I love you Gaara." Lee said, his voice was heavy with emotion.

"I know, Lee." Lee pulled away and held Gaara's face and pressed their foreheads together.

"No. You do not. I love you so much Gaara. I cannot comprehend how anyone could be so mean to you. You are the best person I have ever met and I adore you. There is nothing about you that I do not love. I just want you to remember that, okay?" Lee was full on sobbing and hugged Gaara tightly again and just repeating how much he loved him.

"Lee. Lee." Gaara gently pushed him away so he could look Lee in the eyes. "Lee, it's okay. It doesn't hurt anymore. I'm not in pain anymore. Please, don't be upset. It won't change anything."

"I know. But I think about how difficult it must have been growing up as you and I realize no one else was there to cry for you. Let me do it. You deserve someone to cry for you. You did not deserve anything that happened with your father." Gaara nodded.

"I know that now." Lee hugged him again, this time he wasn't crying as hard but it was nice to be hugged with so much emotion.

***

Nearly two hours later, everyone else started making their way up to the room. By this point, Gaara and Lee were on the couch watching a movie, eating random food from the vending machine.

"How long have you two been up here?" Ino asked and Gaara shrugged. "...Are you ok?" Ino quickly sat next to Gaara. She could tell Lee was crying. It was a while ago but she could always tell.

"We're fine. Everything is ok." Gaara assured her and she looked at him with a face that said 'we'll talk about it later' and Gaara nodded. 

Sasuke and Naruto sat down on the couch next to each other and Naruto was still in the fucking banana costume and that made Gaara smile. Ino grabbed the vodka and found a couple shot glasses in the kitchen and sat down at the rather large round coffee table.

"Come on, time to play a game!" She yelled excitedly and opened the vodka.

"What are we playing?" Sasuke asked and sat on the floor by the table, taking a shotglass. Naruto followed and soon everyone was around the table.

"Let's start off with truth or shot. Naruto, truth or shot!" Naruto tapped his glass and Ino rolled her eyes and Naruto took a shot.

For a while, it seemed everyone took shot, trying to get themselves at least tipsy enough to pick truth and actually be honest about it.

"Truth." Lee was the first to go that actually didn't pick shot. He didn't want to do anything stupid tonight. Unlucky for him, he had Sakura.

"What is your biggest sexual fantasy?" She asked and Ino's half-drunk ass gave her a high five. Lee was only slightly thankful everyone around him was tipsy. All except Gaara. He didn't even go yet.

"Is this going to be only sexual questions?" Lee asked flatly and the giggles around the room told him, yes. It was. He should've taken a shot. "I... I honestly don't really have one."

"You're lame. Take a shot." Lee groaned but listened anyway. He turned to Gaara.

"Truth or shot?"

"Truth." Gaara stared directly into his eyes. Lee looked at Ino briefly for support and Ino grinned and leaned over the table and whispered a question to Lee and Lee blushed.

"What is your biggest kink?" Lee parroted and found himself way to curious for this one. Luckily Gaara didn't get embarrassed. Gaara blushed over the strangest things but for whatever reason, sexual things wasn't one of them.

"I suppose I like things... rough? Like biting and scratching." Jesus, why did Lee ask Gaara that question? Lee nodded stiffly and quickly turned his attention away. He did not want to admit that was his new fantasy. 

"Sasuke, truth or shot?" Gaara asked and Sasuke figured he was tipsy enough to play truth. Gaara held up his finger and looked at his phone. Not really knowing what to ask, he turned to the internet for help. "Okay... If you got to have a threesome with two people in this room, who would it be and why?" Gaara asked calmly and Sasuke started laughing and held out his shot glass for Ino to fill.

"Hold on. I'm not drunk enough for that question." He took another shot and then looked around at the room. "Hm..." He laughed again. "Okay I'm gonna have to say Naruto, obviously." The laugh Sasuke had proved that he was a bit passed tipsy and almost drunk. "Hm... Who is my lucky third person?... Honestly I'll have to go with you, Gaara. I mean, I heard you and my brother in the shower yesterday and you gotta know something with those noises you two made." He laughed and Gaara's face burned and he covered his mouth. Ino's mouth dropped and she tried to stop herself from laughing and Sakura was laughing so hard she cried. 

"Damn Sasuke, drag the poor guy, why don't you." Naruto responded and Sasuke shrugged.

"What? It was hot." He admitted and Sakura laughed even harder. She couldn't wait to tell him he said that in the morning, he would be mortified.

Lee sat next to Gaara very tense. The whole admission made Lee's heart ache. He knew this was probably how it felt when Gaara found out he slept with Sakura, but still it hurt. Bad. Did they have sex? Lee couldn't even think about it anymore.

"Lee! Truth or shot?" Lee held out his glass and quickly downed it. He looked at Ino.

"Truth or shot." His voice was quieter than before, Ino could tell.

"Shot." She took a shot then decided to take mercy on Lee and use her turn to ask Gaara something she knew already but Lee clearly wanted to know. "Gaara. Truth or shot. Too late. Truth. Are you a virgin?"

"Ino." Gaara frowned at her. "You of all people should know I am. Now give me a shot." Ino gave Lee a look and he smiled weakly at her.

"Lee. Truth or shot." Gaara asked.

"Truth." Gaara looked back down at his phone and red the first one he saw.

"What is the thing..." He squinted at his phone looking closer. "What is the ONE thing that get's you hot and bothered every time?" Lee laughed and shook his head. "What?"

"You do." Lee answered quietly. No one else really heard him say it. They were much too busy with their own drunken shenanigans. "Every time."

"Lee..."

"What about you, Gaara?" Lee asked softly. "What gets you hot and bothered?" Gaara could feel the tension in the air between them. He knew it was bad, but it was exciting.

"You, Lee. You shouldn't even need to ask that question."

"I just wanted to know..."

***

They had initially all made a plan to sleep in specific beds. That all changed when they got drunk then didn't know where to go. Ino was in Gaara's pajamas, Lee was in his underwear, Sasuke was in the banana suit, Naruto was in Ino's pajamas, Gaara was wearing Lee's tux shirt and no pants, and Sakura was in Sasuke's boxers and her bra. They all woke up sleeping on the queen sized bed when Itachi walked into the room and yelled really loudly.

They all started crying or some variation of that.

"Itachi. What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, voice heavy with exhaustion. He looked at the clock. It was 9am and they went to bed at 5. "Itachi what the fuck? Go home."

"I can't, you don't have a ride back. I came here to pick you up. I have no idea what I walked in on. And if everyone was going to share a bed, why didn't you share the king sized one?" Gaara roused from his 4 hours asleep, more awake than anyone else. Ino still had a tight grip on him and he had a hard time detangling himself from the bed.

"Good morning." Gaara said and walked over to hug Itachi.

"You smell like death."

"Thank you. That's what I was aiming for." Itachi chuckled and led Gaara out of the room.

"Come on. You should shower. Everyone else will take a while to get up and I know my little insomniac is wide awake." Gaara nodded and they went to the master bathroom. Itachi handed him a bag with clothes. "Are you wearing... Lee's shirt?" Gaara looked down and shrugged.

"I don't know. After the game of truth or shot I have no recollection of what happened."

"So you have no idea how Sasuke got into a banana costume?" Gaara shook his head and Itachi frowned. He really wanted to know. Gaara went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and took off his clothes and climbed inside. A few seconds later he poked his head out.

"Are you joining me, or?" Itachi smirked, he didn't need to be asked twice.

***

"Ino is never allowed to pick the game ever again." Sakura whined, curled up on a ball on the couch trying to nurse her hangover.

"You shouldn't have picked shot instead of truth." Was Ino's response. Gaara came out from the master bedroom, showered and in new clothes looking like a normal member of society.

"I'm proud none of you broke anything." Itachi said. "That seems like a good enough thing to be proud for concerning a group with Naruto and a drunken Lee."

"That was one time..." Lee mumbled, with a jacket over his head. The light was painful.

"I'll bring it up until I die." Itachi responded and Gaara didn't even care to find out what it was. "Now let's all get going. If you don't want to go home yet, fine. You can sleep off your hangovers at the estate, I just couldn't pick you up any other time. Let's go, we have an hour and I need to go to work." Gaara frowned.

"You work today?" Itachi nodded with a sigh.

"I'm pretty backed up right now. I should be caught up by later today. Since my car can't fit you all, some people are going to have to sit on each other's laps."

They all gathered their things and dragged their feet downstairs to the car. They were able to squeeze Gaara up front so only Sakura had to sit on Sasuke's lap and everyone else fit fine. Ten minutes into the car ride, everyone was sleeping and Itachi sighed. He wondered what happened last night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I would like to know in this comment**  
>  1) What was the most emotional part in this fic for you? (Of the entire 279 pages. Yes it is that long. You're welcome)  
> 2) If you could pick one person to absolutely show up in this fic, who would it be and why?  
> 3) How long do you think Gaara and Itachi will date for?  
> 4) Who do you feel doesn't get enough love in the story? (being the amount of time they're written in the story.)
> 
> Thank you lovelies. I hope you enjoy!


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you ever want to know what a fucking psycho I am, realize today I have written 25 pages for this story. It's officially 290 pages. Anyway,
> 
> Lee's trip to college and a trip down memory lane with Kakashi and Guy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : I don't think I'm ever going to write how they all got into the positions they were in. You can speculate, but it'll be like that one episode of How I met your mother with the pineapple. Sai went home, earlier Ino said that she wasn't sure he was staying. Sakura is there because even though we don't like her, it would be fucked up for Sasuke and Naruto to go without her considering they didn't fight with her.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Well I'm glad I could even out your tears with something better! lmao I could see that too. I feel like Naruto is always gonna have vodka in college and Sasuke is like "stahp" I can't wait for Iruka to show up, I love him. (person keeping an eye on him is called a guardian! Good job with your English though!) Enjoy this Kakashi and Guy filled chapter!  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Haha, I'm glad. I love Naruto. I needed him to do some stupid shit since he didn't spike the punch bowl again. Gaara's backstory will continue to be sad so don't get too emotional or you'll just cry all the time when Gaara speaks. I still didn't explain his back scars (not sure when I'm going to do that though so sit tight) I am glad to have invoked anger in you then! Iruka is coming soon. We are in the end of April actually. Almost May. (It's gonna be may~!) Enjoy the Guy filled chapter. And his name is Gai in the japanese version. Guy is the american version. Like in japanese its Maito Gai and english it's Might Guy. Idk why. Apparently if it's spelled Gai americans will be like ??? Depending on the fic of mine you read is depending on what spelling I use lol  
>  **RainiDayz** : Lee's birthday was pretty angsty. It was fun to write. There will be more depressing chapters later though, trust me. Yesss Obito should show up that would be lovely to see a jealous guy, loves it. Again, you will love this chapter as Guy is the main character!  
>  **Rae** : Yass bitch. Take your time. I don't start school for another 3 weeks. I have to listen to break up songs to get me in the mood for most chapters. (From where you are by lifehouse is gonna be the main song when Lee goes to college. Listen if you dare) Hinata will be a main character, unfortunately not until next year in the fic. But she will be there a lot and I'm excited for it. I love her too! I keep forgetting about Shikamaru...
> 
> Damn, I'm looking at y'all's answers for how long you think Gaara and Itachi will be together and even the person who guessed the longest time was still wrong. Don't be so cynical people. :) I'm torturing you with that relationship for a while.

Chapter Fourty:

Despite being extremely busy with the play, Lee was able to finagle a way to have off for two days so him, Kakashi and Guy could visit the college. Lee asked if Gaara wanted to go but Gaara had to work and practice with the play. He promised he wouldn't burn down the house. Up to this point, Lee felt like all he was doing was practicing for the play. Even when he was at home, him and Gaara were running lines in the living room. Sometimes they went to the Uchiha estate just to have more leg room and practice certain numbers. Itachi would help them with some songs and play the piano, for others Gaara would play the piano so Itachi could practice with Sasuke. All in all, it was really stressful and Lee was thankful to get away from it for a while. 

Ever since prom, Gaara and Lee have had a strange tension in the air every time they were near each other. It was uncomfortable, but they acted like it wasn't there. 

Now, Gaara sat in the auditorium on Lee's last day before he left watching them run through all of the songs. Right now they were at Evermore and Lee was doing really well. The only problem was the lightness of his voice. Gaara wondered if they would deepen his voice electronically when it was time for the play. Lee's voice was too sweet sounding to be the beast.

Watching Itachi and Sasuke sing Gaston was easily Gaara's entertainment for the rest of his life, but Gaara was strangely excited for the mob song. The craziness in Itachi's voice shouldn't have thrilled him as much as it did and if he told Itachi, Itachi likely wouldn't let him live it down. 

"Okay great, thank you everyone. Can we get everyone on set for 'Belle'? We're going to run through the routine. Gaara, you have your book?" Gaara held it up and Orochimaru nodded. "Excellent. Lee, you can sit back down, you won't be on set for this." Lee hopped off stage and helped Gaara climb up. Itachi gave Gaara a wink and playfully flexed his muscles and Gaara smiled and rolled his eyes. "Is everyone ready?" A collective murmur of affirmation. "Excellent. Let's begin." Itachi and Sasuke scurried off stage as Gaara walked along the path taped on the floor slowly with his book.

"Little town, it's a quiet village. Every day, like the one before. Little town, full of little people... waking up to say," As Gaara slowly walked down the stage, the hustle and bustle of people began pouring out from the stage sides with their greetings. "There goes the baker with his tray like always. The same old bread and rolls to sell. Every morning just the same, since the morning that we came, to this poor, provincial town-"

"-Good morning, Beaux!"

Lee sat down watching Gaara act and sing with a lovesick grin. He couldn't contain his excitement when he saw Gaara. He was just so good. And he filled the role of Belle beautifully.

"Now it's no wonder that his name means "Handsome" His looks have got no parallel. But behind that fair façade, I'm afraid he's rather odd, very diff'rent from the rest of us, he's nothing like the rest of us, yes diff'rent from the rest of us is Beaux!" Itachi walked on the corner of the left side of the stage with Sasuke.

"Look at him, LeFou-my future husband. Beaux is the most handsome boy in the village, that makes him the best."

"But he's so... well read! And you're so... athletically inclined."

"Yes... but ever since the war, I've felt like I've been missing something. And he's the only person that gives me that sense of—"

"Mm... je ne sais quoi?"

"I don't know what that means... Right from the moment when I met him, saw him. I said he's gorgeous and I fell. Here in town there's only he, who is beautiful as me, so I'm making plans to woo and marry Beaux."

***

"Lee I hope your trip goes well." Gaara said as Lee packed in his room. 

"Thank you, Gaara. I wish you were coming too." Gaara nodded.

"Me too. Send me pictures." Lee blushed, his mind going where it shouldn't and he nodded.

"Of course."

"Lee are you alright?" Gaara asked and Lee sighed.

"Not... really. Not now. But I will be fine. Eventually." Gaara could tell what that look meant and nodded. 

"Lee! Are you ready?" Kakashi shouted from downstairs. "We really need to get going!"

"Yeah, just one moment please!" Lee called and gave Gaara a regretful smile. "I'll see you in two days?" Gaara nodded, feeling strangely numb. He didn't want Lee to go. Why did he pick a college so far away?

"Yes. Of course... Oh." Lee paused in the doorway and turned back to Gaara. "Don't forget to check the fridge. I made you all some food for the road." Lee smiled and hugged Gaara tightly.

"Thank you." Gaara nodded and Lee gave him one last smile and Gaara watched him go down the stairs and leave. 

When Gaara heard them all wish him well and bid their goodbyes, he waited until he heard the click of the front door and the sound of the car engine turning on and driving away until he had the courage to whisper, 

"I love you."

***

"Lee, you are about to embark on a wonderful journey right now, growing up. College is very important. It's where I fell in love with Kakashi." Guy started and Kakashi's face turned red and he looked out of the window. 

"Yes! You told me. You said that you saw his silver hair and he was listening to Pink Floyd and you thought he was old but then he looked up at you and you thought he was very handsome." Kakashi glared at Guy.

"You thought I was old?" He asked and Guy smiled.

"You have silver hair. Excuse me for being traditional in the sense that when I see gray hair, I expect an old person. But you weren't an old person. And you were perfect. You still are." Kakashi turned away, facing the window. "Aw, rival, don't get shy on me."

"I'm not..." He mumbled and Guy laughed.

"He's always been shy when I show my affections."

"You're just embarrassing when you show them..." Kakashi mumbled and Guy nodded.

"Okay, I won't embarrass you anymore. Will that be better?" Kakashi turned to Guy and frowned.

"No..." Guy grinned.

"So you like being embarrassed by me?"

"...Yes." Guy kissed Kakashi's cheek.

"What started you calling Kakashi rival, anyway?" Lee asked and munched on some carrot sticks.

"Oh that's a fantastic story..."

"Please don't go too much into detail, this story takes forever."

"No it doesn't, you're just impatient."

"Just cut the story short."

"Okay, dear."

***

It was 1993 when Kakashi and Guy met for the first time in college. After Guy met Kakashi for the first time sitting on the lawn next to his friend, Obito, Guy decided he wanted to work up the courage to introduce himself but found it was really difficult.

Guy's friend, Asuma was the one who kept encouraging him to go forward and say hello but Kakashi was always with Obito and Guy was worried that if he went up to Kakashi and Kakashi rejected the idea of being friends with him, it would be made worse by there being someone there.

Even so, Guy would see Kakashi walk by and his heart would skip. Asuma would make fun of him for it and Guy would tell him to shut up because that was his future husband. 

An entire semester of Guy staring at Kakashi as he saw him on campus and Guy finally worked up enough courage to talk to him. It was only because during the spring semester at school they were scheduled the same gym class. So Guy did what any sane person would do. He challenged Kakashi to whatever they did that day in gym. Running? I bet I can run faster than you. Rock climbing? I bet I can get to the wall first. Weight lifting? I bet I could lift more weight than you can. It began to get ridiculous. Kakashi was always exhausted when it came to gym class because he just didn't care enough to actually fight with Guy and he had no idea why this person was even challenging him. Also, Kakashi didn't know his name but stopped him one time and said,

"Listen, guy. I have no idea why you're challenging me like we're rivals or something." He had no idea that this man's name was actually Guy and Guy was just happy that Kakashi seemed to know his name. 

When Guy stopped challenging Kakashi to things, Kakashi didn't seem to mind. In fact, their interactions went to zero. Guy couldn't stand it and he would vent to Asuma about it after each gym class and he got embarrassed every time he saw Kakashi walk around campus. All he wanted to do was just talk to the guy but he got nowhere each time. 

So the next time at gym class, Kakashi walked in, reading a book like always, and Guy jumped in front of him, pointed at him and said,

"Rival! I challenge you in this dodgeball competition!" Kakashi looked up from his book and just stared at Guy in confusion, then sighed. 

Unfortunately they were picked to be on the same team. 

This didn't matter. Without fail, each gym class there was an announcement of a competition and even though it was exhausting to Kakashi, he still complied slightly. Most of the time he didn't care enough so just let Guy win, other times he assumed if he beat Guy he would stop. That was not the case.

Another semester went by and then there was summer break. When the two came back for the fall semester, there was a large party at one of the biggest fraternities on campus. That's when they saw each other again. Guy was overcome with joy and he sat next to Kakashi on one of the couches and stared at him. When Kakashi saw Guy he groaned.

"What now?"

"Rival." Guy started and grinned. "I challenge you to a beer chugging competition!" He announced loudly and that got the frat boys whooping and they brought out two funnels with pipes. Kakashi sighed but accepted. He had no idea what this guy's issue was.

Kakashi actually wound up winning. Not by much but he won and Guy was never so happy to lose before. After the fanfare was over and everyone found something else to be interested in, Guy found enough courage to do what he'd been dying to do.

"Would you go on a date with me?"

"No."

"Alright, rival. Until next time."

"Looking forward to it." Kakashi said dryly, then smirked. Guy knew he was hooked before but that smirk and the daring look in Kakashi's eyes set a fire in him that he just knew Kakashi would be his husband. He knew it. He just had to prove it to Kakashi too.

***

"Wow, Kakashi. You turned him down? That is harsh." Kakashi frowned.

"Okay but you try being asked out by some crazy guy who yelled at you every time he saw you. I thought something was wrong with him. And I had no idea why he started demanding I fight with him on things. I just wanted to go to gym and put forth minimal effort but he made everything a contest."

"Which I usually won." Guy bragged and Kakashi glared.

"That's because I didn't care."

"You say that because you lost." Kakashi grumbled and hit his head on the window.

"But what about your first date?" Lee asked and Guy grinned widely and Kakashi let out a noise that sounded awfully close to a whimper.

"Ah yes! The fantastic start to our beautiful relationship. Would you care to tell this story, my love?" Kakashi gave Guy a look but sat up straighter and looked back at Lee.

***

"Nice flowers. Is it from that dude again?" Obito asked and Kakashi frowned at him.

"Yeah. They're lilies. I hate lilies. And I think his name is Guy, not dude." Obito smirked.

"So you're learning his name now, huh? I hear wedding bells."

"Shut up." Kakashi sat down. "I can't just keep calling him rival, I had to learn his name eventually. It's been a year since I turned him down the first time and he still asks me out once a month. I don't know why he's so interested. Shouldn't he have lost interest by now?" Obito shrugged.

"Why don't you try saying yes this time and see what happens? Maybe if the date is terrible he won't bother you anymore. Who knows, maybe he's just trying to get laid."

"Yes. Someone who consistently asks me out for a year is just trying to get laid. That is the quickest way to get someone in bed with you. Ask them out for a year. Good job, Obito. You've cracked the case." Kakashi said sarcastically and Obito laughed.

"Just say yes, who knows, he may surprise you."

Sure enough, a month later and Guy showed up with a different type of flower, as he always did, trying to find the one Kakashi hated the least. Winter roses. It was October and fall was in full swing. Guy was smiling warmly, his hair was shiny and perfect like always, his eyebrows were still hideous, his clothes were okay, he had a weird fashion sense but today wasn't terrible. He had simple jeans on and a green and orange knit sweater.

"Would you go on a date with me?" He asked, fully prepared to be rejected again. Kakashi slowly took the flowers from him and Guy just smiled at him. He was actually really sweet to keep trying. Maybe Obito was right. A yes wouldn't hurt.

"Sure. I'll go on a date with you." Guy's smile fell off his face to be replaced with a look of shock, then he grinned so wide, Kakashi thought his face would split into two.

"Really? That's a yes?" He sounded so excited and Kakashi just nodded. "Oh! Thank you!" He was so awkward it was endearing. "U-um... I didn't think I'd get this far. Okay. When are you available?"

"Tonight." Kakashi said and Guy looked even more surprised.

"Tonight?" Kakashi perked an eyebrow, mainly teasing Guy. He didn't expect Guy to accept a date on such short notice.

"Yeah, why? You busy?" He asked and Guy shook his head quickly. Sure, he had two tests tomorrow and one of his essays was due. That didn't matter, he'd stay up all night to deal with them.

"No. Absolutely not. Um. Did you want to meet somewhere or did you want me to pick you up?" Kakashi thought about it and shrugged again.

"You can pick me up." With that he gave Lee his dorm building and number. Guy had no idea their dorm rooms were in the same building. "I'll see you at..."

"Seven." Guy blurred out. He wasn't sure why. Kakashi nodded and twirled the winter roses in his hands. 

"See you then." Kakashi walked away and pretended not to notice the jump of victory Guy did as he left. Kakashi just smirked, shook his head and mumbled, "Just say yes, he may surprise you."

Kakashi was showered, shaved and ready to go at 6:45. He sat on his dorm bed and Obito was sitting on the other bed.

"You ready for this date?" Obito teased and Kakashi sighed and played with one of the winter rose petals on the nightstand next to his bed. 

"I can't be more ready for it than I am now, I think."

"Even if you don't like the date, at least you know you made the guy's year by saying yes to a date." Kakashi agreed.

Guy was currently in his room trying his best to look as presentable as possible. Asuma was sitting on the windowsill smoking in the opened window and just watching Guy have a meltdown. 

"You need to calm down. Have a Xanex or something." Asuma said calmly and Guy turned around and groaned.

"I have nothing to wear that doesn't make me look like a dork. I didn't prepare myself for this. I didn't think he'd say yes. Especially with 3 hours notice." Asuma flicked his cigarette out of the window and walked to his dresser and pulled out a shirt. It was a simple maroon button up shirt that had gray cuffs and a gray collar. The inside of the sleeves were gray if they were rolled up. After that Asuma handed him a nice jacket, nothing overly fancy but something that made him look... less like a dork. Guy took them gratefully and when he put them on he didn't look bad.

"There, now wear your gray jeans and you'll be fine." Asuma said simply and sat back on the windowsill and lit up another cigarette. 

"Thank you, Asuma." Asuma just gave a thumbs up and Guy finished getting ready. He put on the watch he got from his father and read that there was only 5 minutes to seven. He didn't want to be late. "I have to go!" Guy shoved his wallet and keys in his pockets and ran out of the room as Asuma waved.

Kakashi was in the middle of reading a page of his book when there was a knock on the door. He looked at his watch and it was 7 on the dot.

"He's punctual." Kakashi nodded and stood up to open the door. When he opened it Guy smiled nervously at him. Guy would never forget what Kakashi was wearing on their first date. Black pants, a tucked in brown shirt with black stripes and a dark green baggy cardigan. "Yo. Ready to bounce?" Guy nodded mutely and Kakashi grabbed his wallet and put it in his back pocket. "Later, Obito."

"Peace out." Kakashi closed the door. 

The date started out awkward because Guy was too nervous to talk. He felt himself shaking while they were walking but told himself it was because it was cold. It wasn't until Kakashi got annoyed with the silence that they actually began to talk.

"So what are you in college for?" Kakashi asked and Guy was surprised to hear his voice. He'd only heard it a few times, Kakashi didn't seem to talk much.

"Oh, I'm going for kinesiology. I would like to be a physical trainer, they require a bachelor degree. What about you?"

"Journalism. I'm going to be an editor." Guy smiled at him.

"I see you reading a lot. I'm sure you'd enjoy that job." Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah I do enjoy reading. What do you do?" Guy chuckled.

"At the risk of sounding like a meathead, I work out a lot. Or I practice at the dojo." That seemed to get Kakashi's attention.

"The dojo? You do what?"

"Karate. Black belt." Kakashi smirked.

"Me too. Second dan." Guy nodded looking impressed. "Let me guess, you're third dan?" Guy chuckled and nodded. "Even when we aren't competing, we are."

They fell into a pleasant conversation and Kakashi learned that even if he decided not to date this dude, he was actually really nice. Competitive, but sweet.

They went to a 24 hour diner since they had no idea where else to go and laughed about obscure movies that they both saw that no one else seemed to know about. Guy doesn't remember what they ordered to eat but he did remember what they ordered for dessert.

"Is this when we share a milkshake?" Kakashi asked dryly and Guy smiled.

"Would you like to?" Kakashi's sarcastic expression changed and he shrugged.

"Sure, might as well." They shared a vanilla milkshake and laughed how silly it was and for the first time since Guy started college, he felt like he finally found his purpose. And if that was only to marry Kakashi, that was more than enough. Kakashi felt a weird sense of calmness that was hard for him to feel usually. 

Finishing up their milkshake, Guy insisted on paying since he's the one that asked Kakashi out. Kakashi eventually relented and they left the diner and walked around the park across the street for a while just talking about whatever came to their mind. 

"I think I'd like to open a dojo eventually." Guy said seemingly randomly.

"Odd. I wanted the same thing. I wasn't sure if I could do it though. There's a lot of work." Guy agreed.

"Let's open one together. We could name it Rival." Guy said with a grin and Kakashi rolled his eyes with a smirk. 

"Sure, Guy. We'll open a dojo together." There was a lull in the conversation but it wasn't awkward. Both men were just in awe at the beautiful night sky. "Why did you ask me out so many times?"

"Because I like you." Guy said simply. "I figured the worst you could say is no. Maybe one day you'd say yes. I didn't expect it to be today, but I'm grateful."

"I didn't know I was going to say yes either... You were so insistent I figured I would see what the big deal was."

"Have you enjoyed your time with me so far?" Kakashi nodded.

"You're a cool dude. Pretty weird but I'm glad to have met you."

"I'm very happy to hear you say that."

On the walk back to dropping Kakashi off at his dorm room, Guy felt a feeling of dread. He didn't want the night to end but kept the poor guy out until 11 at night and he himself had his essay to write. Thankfully, they stopped to get coffee on the way back. Guy made sure to walk as slowly as he could, not wanting to waste any time he had left with Kakashi. He intended to make it last as long as possible. Kakashi either didn't mind or didn't notice.

They reached Kakashi's dorm door finally and the floor was surprisingly quiet, must be because it was a weekday. Had it been a Friday or Saturday, the place would've been a zoo. Guy was thankful it was quiet, he wasn't sure how serious he could be with a bunch of guys running passed them. In a way, he was glad to have the date on such short notice.

"Thank you for going on this date with me. I had a very good time." Guy thanked with a smile and Kakashi nodded slowly.

"Thank you for asking me to go with you. I'm sorry I didn't say yes sooner." Guy just grinned.

"Well you said yes eventually and that's all that matters to me. So thank you." Kakashi nodded and the two stood in an awkward silence for a minute and Guy nodded and blushed. "I-I'll see you around. Goodnight, Kakashi." 

He dipped his head and turned around and walked away. Kakashi watched him take each step and it was as if he couldn't hear anything else but the footsteps of Guy's retreating form. He was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. Eventually he took in a deep breath. Guy got to the door to the stairwell when Kakashi worked up his nerve.

"Guy, wait." Kakashi ran over to Guy and stopped right in front of him. Guy was only about 3cm taller than Kakashi was so it wasn't difficult for Kakashi to grab his face and kiss him. 

The kiss was soft, chaste, innocent. There wasn't anything that would suggest he wanted anything more than a kiss. He pulled away quickly, his face red. Guy's expression was a look of shock, his face was blushing too.

"Maybe we can hang out again sometime." Guy nodded, unable to find words. Kakashi smiled and walked away, Guy staring after him and watched him go into his dorm room.

When he was out of sight, Guy let himself smile. He knew he was marrying that man.

***

"What a beautiful story!" Lee said with tears running down his face. "You two have such a wonderful relationship!" Guy smiled at Kakashi and Kakashi tried not to smile back but failed.

"Yes. Yes we do." Kakashi agreed.

***

"This is a nice campus!" Guy exclaimed when they pulled in. Their tour wasn't until tomorrow but they did not just drive 6 hours to not check out at least the outside of it.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay living so far from home?" Kakashi asked and Lee frowned.

"I think I need this. Not for any other reason but I need to grow up a bit. I have found the person I intend to marry and right now... I need to be away from him. I will do my growing here and you'll see, I'll be a changed man when I come home. And I will visit often! I know I will miss you." Lee said quietly and Kakashi looked out the window sadly. He didn't want his son to go.

***

The next day at the tour was a lot of fun. Lee was shown around the school, which buildings had which classes. Everything. Kakashi and Guy had more questions for the tour guide than Lee did. Lee was just in awe over the beautiful campus. 

While Lee was preoccupied in his thoughts he bumped into someone and knocked them over.

"Oh I am so sorry!" He helped her up and she brushed herself off. "I am so sorry I was not paying attention, that was my fault. Are you okay?"

"Yes yes!" She laughed. "Thank you but I'm fine. Not the first time I've fallen and it won't be the last." She looked at the tour guide and then at Lee's parents. "You checking out the school?" Lee nodded. "Awesome. It's a really nice campus. It's nice to live here too. Would you be starting in the summer or fall semester if you came here?"

"The fall. I have a trip planned with my friends for the summer." She smiled.

"Well, maybe we'll see each other again! I'm Tenten by the way." She held out her hand and Lee shook it with a smile.

"My name is Rock Lee. It is a pleasure to meet you." She laughed and started to walk away.

"See you around, Rock Lee." 

She was nice. Almost like it was an epiphany, Lee realized he didn't need to go on further with the tour. He knew this was the right school for him.

He still continued for the sake of his parents though.

***

The rest of the day after the tour was dedicated to driving around the college town to see what was around. Lee was amazed with how many things were there. Bars, bakeries, restaurants, art shops, pizza places, this place had everything. 

"Lee did you want to get a dorm room or did you want to get an apartment?"

"A dorm room is fine with me."

"Yes, dorm rooms were the foundation of the college experience in my opinion. What would you say, rival?" Kakashi shrugged and Guy parked in front of a store so they could talk.

"I met Obito, so that was nice." Guy frowned at the mention of Kakashi's old friend but said nothing on the subject. "You met Asuma. You two are still friends. So sometimes in college you meet your best friends and they're your roommates." Lee felt a spark of hope. Maybe he would make a best friend and it would be his roommate and they would do everything together! That would be lovely, especially from being so far away from his friends. He was determined to make his roommate his best friend.

Kakashi was staring out of the window and saw all the college aged kids walking by on the sidewalks doing various things. Eating, talking, laughing, having a good time. He remembered being in college. He didn't really enjoy it too much except for when he was with Obito, and after his date with Guy, Guy too. Asuma was a nice guy. 

Kakashi remembered all the things they used to do in college as a group. Sneak into the movie theatre together, get drunk in their dormrooms, skip out on frat parties to do literally anything else. Kakashi realized that for more than half of his life, he was with Guy and that was amazing to him. He looked at the seat next to him and saw the man he met in college, giving their son a pep-talk about going to college where he would have so many experiences, the first experiences he'd have away from home as an adult. Kakashi created such a great life with Guy and now they were 43 years old, ready to send their son to college and he just didn't know what to say about it.

He was thankful. So thankful to be given this opportunity and none of it would've happened if Guy had given up after the first no. Kakashi realized this before, but he just took a step back to realize what a big deal it actually was. With all of his heart, Kakashi loved his husband and their son. He wouldn't give this life up for anything.

"Kakashi, are you alright?" Guy asked, voice full of concern. Kakashi realized he was crying. Just a few tears, nothing obnoxious. He just hadn't even realized he started crying to begin with. Kakashi leaned over his seat and kissed Guy. When he pulled away he hugged him, Guy returned the hug and kissed Kakashi on the top of the head.

"I love you." Guy smiled just as big as he did the day Kakashi first told him, it was still just as special.

"I love you too." He kissed Kakashi again and Kakashi wiped his face and got out of the car, then opened the back door and got in and sat next to Lee and hugged him too.

"And I love you, Lee. I'm very proud of you, I hope you know that." Lee didn't want to cry, but he did.

"I love you too, papa." If Kakashi cried more at that, his son and husband were nice enough not to say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayyyyy... Let me think of some questions...
> 
> 1) If you had to pick a scene to read over and over which would it be?  
> 2) In this chapter Lee mentioned going on a vacation with his friends. Where should they go?  
> 3) Should the play posters be shown before the play and everyone knows Belle is a boy or should the first people that see the play see that Belle is a boy and are like "?!?!?"  
> 4) Should Lee grow his hair in college???
> 
> I love y'all. Goodnight.


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y'all wanted some back story on Gaara. I hope you're happy.
> 
> This chapter contains death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **RainiDayz** : Yes it is! It was refreshing writing a different kind of love for once. That was actually the plan, for them to have a road trip. I just didn't know where they would go. (I love the renaissance faire. I dress up like Rapunzel each time lol) Don't apologize. I love long comments!  
>  **Rae** : Well I hope you're prepared because last chapter has nothing on this one. I had to stop writing this chapter because I got too sad. Yes! We will see cuddly lovey drunk Lee more! I cannot confirm nor deny those Itachi implications.  
>  **uurahara** : missed them? There's a new update less than every 24 hours lmao. Yes! Tenten is here and Neji will be coming in soon~! You'll love it!
> 
> Essentially I learned last chapter that Belle is a surprise and Lee is growing out his hair. Be prepared for that.

Chapter Forty-One:

"Gaara you look adorable in that." Itachi said with a grin. Gaara looked down at his peasant Beaux costume with a frown. 

"I don't like being adorable. You look nice in your Gaston outfit." Itachi bowed slightly and his hand stayed on the gun holster he had. 

"Have you seen Lee? He hates his clothes." Itachi chuckled and Lee shook his head. Right now they were putting Gaara's wig on and he was getting irritated. He didn't even want to wear a wig but they insisted since his hair was too messy and too brightly colored. Wasn't his fault he was a redhead. So like everyone else in the play, Gaara had a long wig on and they curled it the right way and it was in a simple loose down ponytail. Once they put the small blue bow in his hair, they let him go and Gaara hugged Itachi.

"I don't wanna do it anymore." He groaned and Itachi smiled, went to say something and stopped. "What?" Itachi touched Gaara's forehead.

"Your tattoo is gone." Gaara nodded. 

"Also not something Belle would have so they put some heavy duty foundation on it." Itachi looked at Gaara's face up close with a frown. "What now?"

"They got rid of your freckles too..." He thumbed over Gaara's cheek and Gaara pushed his hand away.

"Don't mess up the makeup. I don't want to sit in the chair again. They even tried to get rid of the dark rings around my eyes but hey, some things even makeup can't fix."

"I love your raccoon eyes." Gaara groaned and walked away from him.

"Gaara!" Lee said in a surprised tone. "You look so different!" When Gaara looked up and saw Lee, he couldn't help but giggle. Lee was in his beast makeup and costume but his voice was just as light and sweet. 

"I look different? Have you seen yourself?" Lee pouted and rubbed his face on his arm.

"I'm so itchy in this. I hope I can take it off soon. They said they weren't even sure what they were going to do with my beast makeup since during the transformation scene I have to take it off really quickly. They might buy a mask or something. I don't know. But you look adorable." Gaara looked over at Itachi with a not pleased expression and Itachi chuckled.

"This isn't even a little okay." Sasuke said, walking over to them. They made him fat and Gaara covered his mouth in surprise and Itachi and Lee almost died. 

"Why did they make you fat!?" Itachi asked through laughter.

"They said I was too attractive to be LeFou! I mean, then don't cast me! I didn't even want to be LeFou!" Sasuke shouted indignantly and Lee was crying on the ground. "That's it. I quit..." Sasuke muttered and walked away.

***

By the time May came around, everyone was so tired from play rehearsal and Ino was pitching a fit because Gaara would rarely hang out with her. He couldn't even focus on school right now, it was just too much. Now, most of the set was done, and it looked beautiful. Itachi didn't spare any expense. 

The only good thing was the amount of time Gaara spent with Lee. He was always with Lee. Sometimes he didn't see Itachi all day, especially when it wasn't his day to rehearse since they were doing the castle scenes. The amount of pictures they took on the set was ridiculous. Lee had so many of them.

When the other actors were rehearsing during their days on, Gaara and Lee would sit in the audience and sometimes fall asleep until it was time for them to go up. Other times, they sat in the back room behind the stage and drank a stupid amount of coffee. Gaara was thankful Temari was able to find more help at the café for the time being since Gaara literally couldn't even think about working right now. He went in on his off days but since he was the main character, those were incredibly rare. He was jealous of Lee and Itachi who didn't have as much stage time as he did. 

Being scheduled on with Itachi without Lee was also fun. Itachi was strange in the sense that he couldn't for the life of him sit still lately so they didn't sit in the audience, they didn't drink coffee in the back, he would explore the theatre. Somehow they managed to get up into the rafters above the stage and irritated the entire cast who was rehearsing at the time. Another time they found themselves on the roof or in the boiler room which Gaara left instantly. He said he liked watching horror movies, not being in them.

All-in-all, Gaara had so many memories on his phone with everyone for this play and he was thankful that he got to be in it at all. 

***

During one study hall in the library, Ino was getting annoyed because of how everyone was reacting with the play. It was completely hush-hush and she was irritated that she didn't know who played whom. Even fucking Sakura knew. (She was IN the play but still.) It was just her and Naruto who had no idea what was going on and Naruto didn't care and sometimes he did. Him and Sasuke got into an argument over it one day. When she heard what Naruto said to Sasuke about being abandoned and feeling left out, she wondered if when she argued with Gaara about it people thought they were dating.

It wouldn't matter, Senior Trip was in a few days. She felt bad with how absolutely heartbroken Gaara looked when he found out all of his friends were going to Disney World for their school planned senior trip. She remembered she called Itachi and bitched him out for a good 20 minutes about it and he asked her what she wanted him to do and she yelled "TAKE HIM TO FUCKING DISNEY WORLD YOU EGG!" She never found out if he planned on it.

Ino took out her phone and text messaged Itachi. She had to find out. The closer it got to the senior trip, the less she wanted to go without her best friend. She wished she had the power to invite him as her date or something but it was for seniors only. She argued with the front desk about it for about 15 minutes, then the principal. She got nowhere but they complimented her for being such a dedicated friend.

'Hey. Did you get it??'

'Get what?'

'Disney World is in 3 days!! Did you get Gaara a ticket??'

'I don't think he CAN go with the play rehearsal.'

'??????? I'm sure he can take 3 days off to spend time with his friends before we LEAVE TO COLLEGE.'

'Ino, I don't know.'

'ITACHI. YOU BETTER DO IT OR I WILL FIGHT YOU'

'Sounds like a solid plan. I still am unsure.'

'THEN MAKE YOURSELF SURE. WE HAVE 3 FUCKING DAYS.'

Ino shoved her phone in her purse now more irritated than she was before. 

"Ino, are you okay?" Gaara asked and she looked at him and noticed how exhausted he was. She felt bad for being irritated with him for lack of hanging out, she just was going to miss him a lot when she left and wanted to spend time with him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Gaara. Thank you, boo." Gaara clearly didn't believe her but he was tired so he leaned his head on her shoulder and she was fairly certain he was sleeping.

***

The next day Ino was fixing Gaara's hair and making sure he looked perfect in lunch. Kankuro was sitting with them today and he just looked at them curiously.

"What are you doing?" He asked finally as Ino primped Gaara.

"It's Senior pictures today. Gaara is getting his picture taken." Kankuro nodded, forgetting for whatever reason they took senior pictures at the end of junior year and not the beginning of senior year. "I just want to make sure Gaara looks handsome~!" She pinched his cheek and he pouted at her. 

Gaara didn't care too much about what he wore, they would but a tuxedo drape over him anyway. Ino was more concerned on his face, he looked so tired. She evened out his skin tone and made the bagginess under his eyes darker so it looked more like makeup and less like death. Gaara played with his bracelet with Lee's name on it and bit his lip nervously. He didn't like getting his picture taken for school. It wasn't like anyone actually bough the pictures so what was the point?

Ino carefully put on his necklace that he got from Lee with the leaf preserved inside and brushed off his shoulders.

"There. You look fine. What time do you need to head down?"

"In about 7 minutes." Ino nodded and Kankuro smiled at his little brother.

"Lookin' good, bro. How ya feelin'?" Gaara went to rub his eyes and Ino smacked his hand.

"Sorry..." Gaara mumbled then looked at his brother. "I'm tired. The play is really exhausting."

"Oh yeah! I forgot you were in that. It's all Temari talks about. She's really excited to see it. Who are you playing again?" Gaara frowned, not this again.

"Sorry, we can't tell anyone who anyone is playing." He said and Kankuro frowned. "Please don't beg. I'm so tired of this question. You'll find out in 3 weeks when the play is on." Ino's phone vibrated and she pulled it out. It was Itachi.

'I can't get the tickets. The plane is sold out. Why don't we go during the summer time instead?'

'I wanted him to go nowwww'

'I tried. I don't have any pull with airports.'

'Don't you have like a private jet or something? Aren't you rich?'

'How rich do you think I am that I own a private jet? I really would like Gaara to go to Disney but I really can't figure out how to do it right now. I promise I'll bring him during the summer, I can even pay for you to go too. I just really can't send him now. I'm sorry.'

'Sighhh... Thank you anyway, Itachi.'

''

"Well I have to go." Gaara stood up and Kankuro with him.

"I'll go with you." He offered and Gaara tilted his head to the side. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay... I'll be back in 15 minutes, Ino." Gaara said and Ino nodded. Kankuro and Gaara left the cafeteria. "So?"

"... I'm so sorry, Gaara."

"Why?" Gaara looked at him confused. Kankuro looked really upset about something. 

"I..." He bit his lip and Gaara realized how much they looked alike again. "I was going through dad's shit and I found a photo album... Of you..." Gaara seemed surprised about it. "That isn't all... I found a tape. I think you should watch it..." Kankuro handed him the tape and Gaara looked at him expectantly. "I really don't think you want to look at the photo album." The tone in Kankuro's voice was desperate, and that just made Gaara more curious. "Please, don't look at it here." Kankuro handed over the book and Gaara put it in his bag. Then Kankuro hugged him. It was a strange feeling. Kankuro rarely hugged him. They only started becoming close when Gaara was around 13 years old. Up until then, Kankuro and Temari didn't really pay attention to him. They were taught not to. Gaara didn't blame them. They were young too. "I have to go." Once again, Gaara was put off by the tone of Kankuro's voice.

***

"Kakashi, do you have a VCR per chance?" Gaara asked right after walking inside. Kakashi nodded and went upstairs to grab it. Gaara sat on the couch and Lee followed him. 

"What do you have, Gaara?" Lee asked and Gaara slowly pulled out a photo album. Gaara put it on the coffee table and his fingers traced the kanji symbol on the front.

**_Demon._ **

"What does that mean?" Lee asked and Gaara shook his head.

"Nothing important." His voice was quiet. He wasn't so sure he wanted to see the pictures.

He opened the book and saw a picture of his mother, she was beautiful. She looked exhausted and in her arms she held the tiny, pre-mature Gaara. Gaara was overcome with emotion when he saw her face. She looked tired but happy, she looked down at Gaara lovingly. That was nothing like his father said she felt. Rasa told Gaara that his mother hated him.

Gaara flipped the page and it was just pictures of Gaara NICU with wires and pipes all over his tiny body. Lee was amazed by how small Gaara was. He turned another page and it was his mother's tombstone. Her date of death was Gaara's birthday. January 19th. As Gaara went through the pictures, he noticed how he grew. He didn't think his father took any of these. When he saw another picture, one of him standing up, holding onto the couch, he knew he was right when he saw Temari in a mirror reflecting her holding the camera with a smile. 

As he went through the pictures, they made less and less sense. A picture of a door, a wall, a teddy bear. There was a picture of Gaara when he was three, he was sitting in a pack n play alone, nothing around him but he just sat there in the corner of the room. The next few pictures showed there was some sort of a celebration, Gaara learned it was Kankuro's birthday. In the back, darkened corner, he was able to see himself just sitting there alone. The disturbing thought Lee had in his mind was if Gaara was 3 years old, he shouldn't have been small enough to be in a pack n play. 

Gaara winced when he saw the next picture. He was four and his back had burn marks up and down it. The way the picture was taken looked like it was for proof. The third degree burns on his back looked repulsive. When Lee saw Gaara's expression in the photo, he noticed that he didn't look in pain, just numb.

Gaara closed the book and put it down on the table and just stared at it quietly. Lee was already hugging him, not saying a word. When Kakashi got downstairs he paused when he saw them. Gaara looked... hollow. Lee shook his head and Kakashi knew not to ask. He set up the VCR and turned on the TV. Gaara handed him a tape and Kakashi looked at it. It wasn't labeled, so it was likely a home video. He pushed the tape in and saw the fuzzy snow screen before the video played.

A woman was on the screen, she was clearly pregnant and she was reading to Kankuro and Temari.

"Say hello!" The camera person said, Gaara winced again, it was his uncle's voice.

"Hi!" She waved, smiling. Her voice was so beautiful. Gaara never heard it. "What are you doing? Why are you recording?"

"Just trying to get video of my very pregnant sister. You're due in, what? Two months? She nodded.

"Yes! And I can't wait! I'm going to eat so much sushi I may vomit." She laughed and Temari scrunched up her face in disgust. Temari looked about 5 years old.

"Any words you'd like to say to the baby, Karura?" She thought for a minute and smiled.

"Well, I would love to name you Gaara, so that's what I will refer to you as. Hello Gaara, my little nugget!" She laughed at Temari's giggle. "You and I have GOT to talk about your hatred of muffins. No matter what flavor I eat, you make me throw them up and I am sad about that." She giggled again. "But even so, I love you! I cannot wait to meet you. Yashamaru, did you show the nursery?" She asked and Yashamaru mumbled a no and then panned the camera out and Gaara saw that he actually had a nursery. It was green and brown, there was a crib in the corner, a beautiful mural of a tree with forest creatures. "I painted it!" Karura yelled from off screen. "Rasa yelled at me for being on a ladder but I wanted it to be perfect! I hope you'll like it."

"Temari, do you have anything you want to say about your baby brother?" She giggled and shrugged.

"I wanted a sister." She said and Karura looked surprised, then laughed.

"Honey! Don't say that! Your brother is perfect. And you will love him very much. You too, Kankuro. The world can be cruel, so you must be nice to each other. You look out for him, okay?" Temari nodded and hugged her mother's stomach and kissed it.

"Love you baby Gaara!" She giggled with glee when there was a tiny kick. "He said he loves me too!"

"Oh yes, I'm sure he did. You're his big sister. He loves you very much." Temari beamed proudly and Kankuro, who wasn't old enough to say anything just gurgled gleefully. 

The tape ended and a few seconds later it started up again.

"Karura... You okay?" Yashamaru asked and she smiled tiredly.

"Yes. I'm fine. Stop asking me that." She looked very pale.

"You just had Gaara, how do you feel?" She mumbled something and then rubbed her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I... I don't know what's... wrong with me. I'm just tired. Where is Gaara?"

"They're cleaning him off. He'll be right back." She puckered her lower lip.

"Tell them to hurry. I need to meet him."

"Karura, you'll have your entire life left to spend with him." She smiled weakly and nodded.

"Yes. I will." Yashamaru didn't understand the implications, but as Gaara watched it on the TV he knew that his mother already knew her fate.

She sat up slightly when she heard the nurses come in. She smiled at something off screen and she was handed Gaara, wrapped in a hospital issued blanket and a tiny hat. She pulled off the hat to see his bright red hair and she giggled.

"I knew he was going to have a lot of hair. I had such bad heartburn with you, little nugget." She kissed his forehead and a look of pain flashed across her face and she held Gaara closer. Her eyes watered and she shook her head.

"What's wrong Karura?"

"Where is Rasa?" She asked.

"I don't know. I can't get in touch with him." Karura looked pained. 

"He's probably with her..." She whispered and looked back down at Gaara. "Don't be like your father, Gaara. Okay? Promise me that." She kissed him over and over again. Her vitals were going crazy and Yashamaru yelled for a nurse, the camera was put down sideways on the table, but Karura stayed in view. She kept looking worse and worse and Yashamaru ran out of the room. Karura bounced Gaara in her hands as much as she could with how weak she was.

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." She sung softly and kissed him again. "I have to go now Gaara." Baby Gaara began to get fussy in her arms. "Shhh. It's okay. It'll be okay, my nugget. It'll be fine..."

Gaara sat on the couch and watched as on screen his mom flat lined and the nurses ran into the room. Yashamaru screamed in anguish and they shoved him out of the room. One of the nurses gently picked up a now screaming Gaara and rocked him. They moved the blanket out of the way and commented on how much blood there was. The tape was cut off there and on screen was just the fuzzy snow screen was back on making a loud hissing noise. No one in the living room dared to move. 

"Gaara..." Kakashi started, slowly. Gaara was still staring at the screen unknowing what to do and Kakashi and Lee watched so many emotions flash across his face. His calm façade broke and suddenly he was sobbing. "Gaara." Kakashi jumped off the couch and quickly made his way to Gaara's side. 

The video made a noise and suddenly Gaara saw the shed in the backyard.

"N-nonono." Gaara shook his head and Kakashi looked up at the screen. He quickly got up and turned off the video before the shed door was opened and Gaara just got up from the couch and ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah I'm saddened now. Why do I do this? Y'all wanted more Kankuro, here he is. I'm not sure if I should write the senior trip or not. (Senior trip is NOT the trip Lee was referring to last chapter.)
> 
> I have no questions for this chapter, as I am just sad lol. Leave a comment!
> 
> **Edit:  
> 1) Should I write the play or should I do bits and pieces or should I do people's reactions and that's it?


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I love you's!
> 
> Can I just point out I planned to end this story 100k words ago? And it's still going?? And it isn't close to being over???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Yasss fuck Rasa. Don't worry, he'll get worse. I promise :) But you'll like what happens eventually.  
>  **uurahara** : Yeah I'm good at torture. I'm so tired I read "I am going to fights JESUS" and I was like "wow awesome, hope u win." I need someone to save me from sleep deprivation.  
>  **Leah** : That was the point of the chapter~!  
>  **RainiDayz** : Something along those lines will happen. Gaara will not have his hair look like that monstrosity. Don't worry. He combs his hair in this story and straightens it but that's it. He won't cut it and for the most part it'll stay messy. That is a good point, I cannot wait to write Sasuke try to stay i character, hearing his boyfriend laugh obnoxiously in the crowd. I like the road trip ideas!  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : I'm glad I invoked emotion. That was the purpose of the chapter. To show this story is not all fun and unicorns lol. Just keep beer by your computer at all times. I have a few pages in my notebook on plot points with Neji. I can't wait to write them but this point in the story is taking forever to write. Eventually we'll get there.  
>  **Rae** : I think if anyone was a mother figure it would be Temari or Ino. I know Ino is... Ino but she's always there for him and she's the first person Gaara goes to when he's in trouble. Kakashi is Gaara's main support system and the two will continue to get closer as the story goes on! I will totally write the kissing scene. I am excited for that.

Chapter Forty-Two:

Lee was always impressed with Gaara. Everything he did he did it well. This included running away and hiding. He could never find where Gaara ran off to. This was not an exception to this rule. Lee had searched for an hour and still he couldn't find Gaara.

When he decided to look inside again, he saw Kakashi sitting on the couch with a strange expression on his face. He was on his phone talking quietly. Lee assumed it was Guy considering the way Kakashi spoke. Lee walked into the living room and Kakashi's eyes were red. 

"I'll talk to you later. Yes. Please, call him. Thank you. I love you, babe. See you soon." Kakashi hung up the phone and sighed and rubbed his face. "Did you find him yet?" Lee sighed and sat down next to Kakashi.

"No. I have run all around and I still do not know where he is. Was that dad?" Kakashi nodded.

"I don't make it a habit to say I love you babe to a lot of people." Kakashi joked dryly and leaned his head on the wall.

"Did something else happen?" Lee asked and Kakashi frowned and sighed.

"Yes. I watched the rest of the tape." He admitted and Lee's eyes widened.

"W-what happened?" Kakashi shook his head.

"Lee, I know you love Gaara, and this is why I'm telling you now, it's better you don't know." Lee's eyes widened at that. What could have happened?

"W-was... was it when he got his tattoo?" Lee asked quietly and Kakashi stared at him, then sighed again.

"I wish that was the only thing on the tape." Kakashi stood up, tape in hand and went upstairs to put the tape out of reach.

Lee really wondered what was on the tape, but he was more concerned where Gaara was.

***

Eventually, Lee found Gaara. He was sitting under a tree on their property. He must've moved since Lee knew for a fact he wasn't there the other 30 times Lee checked. Lee just sat next to Gaara and didn't say a word. He learned from Kakashi if you wanted someone to trust you enough to talk, let them talk first.

Gaara didn't look upset. It was strange. His face was completely stony. He had no expression even slightly on his face, he looked fake. 

"I will sit here as long as it takes for you, and I will not say anything after this. I just want you to know that I love you." Gaara's face didn't change, it almost looked like he didn't even hear Lee. Then slowly Gaara's head was leaning on Lee's shoulder and Lee put his arm around Gaara. Over the course of 15 minutes they got closer until Gaara was full on in Lee's lap and Lee was cradling him. Lee was always so amazed how small Gaara was. 

They sat that way until Lee saw his dad pull into the driveway. He waved at them but said nothing and went inside. Gaara sighed.

"Kakashi told Guy." He said quietly.

"Why do you say that?" Lee asked.

"If Guy didn't know something happened, he would've ran over here and talked to us about... love or something. This time, he just waved. Should I be concerned?" Lee shrugged.

"I am not sure. I did hear Kakashi call dad before but I could not hear what they were saying." Gaara nodded and did not talk anymore. Lee didn't mind, he just held Gaara closer to his chest.

***

"I do not want to go." Lee told his parents the next morning while Gaara was asleep.

"But Lee, it's your senior trip. It's Disney. Why don't you want to go?"

"I am unsure if you two knew this, but before Itachi and Gaara got together, Gaara and I would watch movies in my room and just fall asleep. He stopped sleeping in my bed, I am guessing because he was with Itachi and did not want to make him uncomfortable. With everything that happened last night, Gaara slept in my room and he was still... unwell. I am not leaving without him. If he cannot go, I will not go. I can always plan another trip. For now, I want to be with my best friend." Kakashi and Guy nodded slowly and Lee did his best to smile at them. "Thank you. I must get back to Gaara. He had a lot of night terrors last night. I do not think the tape was good to watch. It seems to have... broken some mental blocks. Do you mind if we skip today?"

"I think if anyone deserves a break, it's Gaara. If he needs you, stay home." Guy said seriously and Lee nodded his thanks. Lee walked upstairs and Kakashi waited to hear the bedroom door close.

"Are you sure it's enough proof?" Guy asked and Kakashi nodded.

"I'm pretty sure. We have it on tape and there's even pictures documenting the abuse. Even if we can't get him put in jail, maybe we can get a restraining order or something."

"We'll do whatever we can. Do you think we can find a good enough lawyer?" Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I'm sure we can find one, not sure about how well we can afford it." Guy began calculating in his head.

"I can take on a larger workload. There's always more people to need training." He offered and Kakashi nodded.

"I'm sure I can do some editing on the side too. I wonder if Temari has any more documentation. It almost seems like... someone took these pictures and videos on purpose. All the video clips were showing what happened after the fact and the few that actually had Rasa in the act were filmed from somewhere else. Do you think it was Temari?" Guy shrugged his shoulders, suddenly looking more his age than ever.

"It could be. I'm not sure. Kankuro did give Gaara the video, maybe they want us to take action."

"My only concern is if we take action, will Gaara have to testify or will the videos be enough? At the very least they'll request a psych eval and I'm not sure how that will end. With the amount of abuse on the tapes, and I'm sure that wasn't all the accounts of it, they might think that it's impossible for Gaara to be as well functioning as he is."

"What if he blocked it out?" Guy offered and Kakashi gave it some thought. "You said he was fine until he saw the shed. Maybe that broke some walls and he got more memories back. Maybe he just doesn't remember everything he went through and that's why he's able to act how he does. He's a bit quiet and not very sociable but other than that, he's a good kid. A real good kid."

"I know. And I'm not sure if bringing this all up will break down the walls if he put them up and what would happen to him if we brought it back to the surface. He suffered enough. I just wish I knew what to do." Guy rubbed Kakashi's back.

"We'll find a way. We're too thick-headed not to." Kakashi gave Guy a wry smiled and Guy hugged him. "Don't stress yourself out, rival. We can do this."

***

When Lee walked back in the room, Gaara shot up from the bed and looked around like a startled animal.

"W-what are we doing? Where..." He calmed himself down when he saw Lee and closed his eyes and took in several deep breaths. "It's Wednesday. Shouldn't we be at school?" He asked and Lee shook his head.

"No. You barely slept last night." Lee said calmly. "We can just stay in bed and sleep or watch a movie or whatever you want to do." Gaara nodded and Lee walked over to the bed and Gaara looked at him. "What do you want?" Lee asked softly.

"Please come here." Gaara said in a small voice and Lee climbed into the bed and Gaara clung to his side. Lee held him close and rubbed soothing circles on his back. "Why are you so nice to me?"

"Why would I not be? You are my best friend. I love you." 

"But... why?" Lee considered for a moment and decided to tell Gaara a story.

"When I was younger, I did not have any friends. People made fun of me for the way I looked. They said my eyes were too large, my eyebrows were too thick, my hair was stupid, and I was ugly. I remember feeling really lonely and I just wanted to have a friend. One day, I was training at the dojo. Since my parents owned it, I was always ahead of everyone else. My dad let me teach the class of kids my own age just to see how I would do. That was the day I met Sasuke and Naruto. At the end of class, the kids cleared out. All except Naruto. He asked me if I wanted to be his friend and I thought this was such a joyous occasion. He was my first real friend and years later I asked him what made him go up to ask if I wanted to be friends. He told me that he saw the loneliness in my eyes and he knew what it was because he was lonely too, before he had Sasuke. I did not know what this loneliness looked like. Until one day when I bumped into a red headed guy in the hallway at school and spilled his books everywhere. I helped him get his books and when I looked at him, I saw the loneliness in his eyes. When Naruto told me he befriended me all those years ago because he could see I needed one, I vowed to myself I would do the same. And here I was, with you. It was strange, I knew I wanted to be your friend. Even if you weren't lonely I would want to be your friend. I tried to find out how I could be your friend and then I applied to work at the bakery and would you believe my surprise, the only person I wanted to be friends with came out from the back. I was so happy. I knew then that I would do anything to be your friend."

"I remember that day..." Gaara said softly. "I was at the school for a month and everyone avoided me, probably because I don't look very approachable. I didn't mind, no one talked to me at my old school either. I just went to school, did my work, went to the bakery and worked until I had to go to school again. Repeat until I would pass out for a day, then start all over again. You were the first person to see me. People bumped into me all the time, I started to think I was invisible. But you bumped into me and I thought 'here's another one' but you took the time to grab my books and give them to me and apologize. No one did that before. I was in the bakery making cookies when Temari came into the back and asked me to tell her if I knew the guy up front who was applying that went to the school. I was frustrated, I was tired and I just wanted to finish my work but I came out just to see which asshole was applying to work with me... Then I saw you and I was... surprised. And then you were so happy to see me, no one was ever happy to see me before. After years of feeling invisible, and all it took was you to make me seen. 

"You asked me one day when we were baking together why I was so patient with you since you kept messing up. Truth is, I don't like training people. I hate when things get messed up. I have a short temper in the kitchen. I was... amazed how calm I was with you. I always tell Temari to make sure people have experience because I don't want to train anyone, I'm not their mother. Here you were, killing the yeast more times I could count and I thought to myself 'that's okay. He's learning.' And there was no other place I would've rather you been then in the kitchen killing yeast right next to me." Lee stayed quiet and just rubbed Gaara's back.

"You loved me then, didn't you?" He whispered and Gaara paused and nodded.

"I think I always did." Lee's grip on Gaara tightened.

"I am so sorry. It is my fault we... we aren't together now." Gaara nodded.

"It's okay, Lee. Maybe we weren't supposed to be together yet." Gaara reasoned and Lee frowned.

"There is nothing more perfect in the world than having you by my side. I cannot imagine a better time for us to be together."

"Precisely the reason. You say you loved me, yet we aren't together. First because of you, then because of me. There's something we're missing. Maybe if we were together before you went to college, college would tear us apart. Maybe we shouldn't have dated in high school so now we made it impossible so we don't ruin things for a potential future."

"Do you know what I tell everyone?" Lee asked randomly. Gaara shook his head. "That I am going to marry you. I do not know how long you will be with Itachi for, perhaps years and years. Maybe we will get together in our 60's when we are old and gray, and I will still marry you. With everything we have been through, I just cannot tell myself it is over." Gaara looked up at Lee thoughtfully.

"Why do you want to marry me so badly?" Lee looked down at Gaara and smiled at him, looking at his gorgeous eyes.

"You..." Lee tucked a hair behind Gaara's ear. "Are the love of my life."

"How can you tell?"

"I just know."

"What if you find someone in college you like more?" Gaara's question didn't have any jealous undertones to it, it was a genuine question.

"There is no one I could love in this world more than I love you." Lee said honestly.

"What if you get tired of waiting?"

"Waiting for you? I would never get tired of waiting. I blame myself for my stupidity. I will wait forever for you if I have to."

"Why are you telling me this? Why are you being so open?" Lee frowned and looked uncomfortable. "What?"

"I do not wish to upset you."

"Tell me anyway."

"When... we saw the video... I thought how sad you must've been that your mom passed away and you never heard her say she loved you. I did not want something to happen to me or you and you never would have heard me tell you how I feel. I am going to college in two months. I will be 6 hours away from here and it will kill me to be so far from you, but I need to be. I will wait for you, but I still... I do not want to see you with Itachi every day. I will grow up in college, I think. But anything can happen. I just wanted you to know." Gaara nodded and felt strange. Should he talk to Lee about his own feelings? Lee had a valid point. What if he never got to say them again? But he was with Itachi and he shouldn't have these feelings about anyone else. "Just because I said something, does not mean you need to."

"When we read the scripts before we were given the parts," Gaara began, remembering that day vividly in his mind. "and you were given the beast and I was given Belle, I wasn't acting when I read my lines. That part of the movie really does upset me. But what upset me more was thinking if I was in the same position. With you lying on the floor, dying, not knowing I loved you."

"What... are you saying?"

"I shouldn't love you, but I do." Lee looked at Gaara and forced Gaara to look back at him. They maintained eye contact.

"You love me?" Gaara nodded slowly.

"Yes. I do." Lee squeezed Gaara tightly and kissed the top of his head as many times as he could without feeling like he was choking on hair. "What are you doing?"

"I am just very happy to hear that." 

"Lee... are you crying?" Gaara pulled away from Lee and sure enough, he was crying. "Why are you crying?"

"I-I just love you. S-so much. And you lo-love me. And I am hap-happy." Lee sniveled and hugged Gaara again, squeezing him tighter than Gaara deemed necessary. "Go to s-sleep. We can-can talk later." Lee sniffled and wiped his face. Gaara was already falling asleep.

He was glad to have told Lee his feelings, but he felt wrong, somehow. He couldn't dwell on it at the moment, he really was tired...

***

"Freytown Taxidermy, you cuff em, we stuff em."

"Ino."

"Gaara-WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU TODAY?"

"Good to know your concern doesn't make you unable to make stupid jokes while you answer the phone."

"Eh. It's a gift. So what happened? Are you okay? I called you, Lee, Itachi. No one answered!" Gaara inwardly groaned. He would have to talk to Itachi about what happened and he really didn't want to talk to anyone.

"I'm okay now. Just some family drama. Everything is alright." Just then Lee walked in.

"So Gaara, would you like to stay home or should we go to rehearsal?" He noticed Gaara was on the phone. "I am sorry, just let me know. I'll leave you alone." Gaara made a pout but didn't stop Lee from leaving.

"Lee seems okay. Was it something with Kakashi and Guy?" Gaara sighed. He didn't want to talk about this.

"It happened very recently and I am not okay with talking about it right now. All I will say is Kankuro gave me a tape and a photo album and they brought up bad memories. That isn't why I called."

"Oh. Well what did you want to talk about?"

"Lee told me I was the love of his life and he wants to marry me."

"Well that isn't really news to me but I can act shocked if you want."

"I told him I loved him too."

"..."

"I know I-"

"-Well at least you finally admitted it."

"What?"

"Gaara, you're so in love with Lee. How are you the only one that didn't see it?"

"Ino..."

"Gaara, I'm not even joking. You're just so smitten with him and everyone can see it."

"What about Itachi?"

"What do you mean what about Itachi?"

"Aren't you going to lecture me on saying I love you to Lee when I'm with Itachi?"

"Well... did you fuck him?"

"Who? Itachi?"

"No. Lee. Did you fuck Lee? You better have told me if you fucked Itachi if you did by now. I'll cut a bitch."

"Oh. No. We didn't even kiss. We just kind of talked and that's it."

"Oh. That's so lame though."

"Lame??"

"Gaara, I already told you before, you could literally sleep with both of them, hell add Sasuke and Naruto to the mix, and I would be totally down to hear them ho stories and still wouldn't think you were wrong for doing it."

"Ino, you're insane."

"I'm ride or die, what can I say?"

"What the hell does that even mean? I need an urban dictionary app in order to understand you half the time."

"That's how I'm finna be."

"LITERALLY WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?"

"Alright boo, I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Duces."

"...What does the number two have to do with anything?"

***

"Gaara, we know you're not a very good dancer but you really have to try to get this routine down." Orochimaru emphasized and Gaara blushed at being called out. He wasn't a good dancer at all. It was difficult for him to not trip over his own feet.

"Sorry..." Gaara mumbled and they started teaching the waltz again and Gaara's feet ached from this same dance scene. It was the Tale as Old as Time scene. He felt bad for Lee. Lee was doing his best to lead, but Gaara kept stepping on his toes and falling on him. 

"We should give you some private dancing classes. You really need to get this down. We already cut a lot of the dancing Beaux does but this scene is vital. It's the most iconic moment in the movie, we have to recreate that." Before Gaara could say anything, he heard Itachi's voice.

"Don't worry, Orochimaru. I will make sure he gets the practice he needs. This scene will be perfect come time the play. Perhaps we should try a different dance scene. Sasuke and I still haven't got to run through 'Gaston' on stage yet." Gaara smiled thankfully at his boyfriend and Itachi pretended he didn't see. Gaara wondered if Itachi was angry at him and suddenly felt sad. Did he upset Itachi?

"You're absolutely right. Gaara and Lee, sit down and rest your legs. Everyone in the Gaston scene, please get on stage. I'd like to see one of these dance scenes go right..." Gaara blushed again and got off the stage.

"It's okay, Gaara. We can practice at home if you'd like. We have all weekend to do it."

"All weekend? Don't you leave for your trip tomorrow?" Lee shook his head.

"No. I'm not going." Gaara looked at him with surprise.

"Not going? Why? I thought you wanted to go to Disney."

"Oh I do. I'd much rather be with you though."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took all day. My husband decided to keep me out from like 10am until 11pm. I am an introvert. This was not fun for me. :( 
> 
> 1) I asked before what the most memorable part was but not your favorite part. What part is your absolute favorite in the story?  
> 2) Is there anything else you'd like to see with the boys (besides them getting together, that still doesn't happen for a while) before Lee goes off to college?  
> 3) Is there anything you'd like to see in a flashback?
> 
> Oh man, I listened to so many songs to develop scenes and let me tell you I literally cried when I finally developed Gaara and Itachi's break up. It's going to be a rough part in the story. I am sad.


	43. Chapter 43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE PLAY!
> 
> And the prompt from forever about Lee and Gaara slow dancing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **NJ** : Thank you for your comment! I love hearing from every one!  
>  **RainiDayz** : Aw, more Guy and Kakashi flashbacks. I love them~! (don't worry, that's what all the mentions of Gaara taking pictures is for.)  
>  **Leah** : Itachi is just an adult so he sucks.  
>  **uurahara** : Seems like that's the favorite scene for everyone! Nice! I love Ino too. She's my life. It'll be sad when she's in college and not around. I'm not excited for the break up. No one should be. It's sad.  
>  **Rae** : Another apple picking. Holla. Temari flashbacks! That's good. Especially since we can't see them from Gaara. I didn't think about that.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I'm afraid I don't understand your first comment. I totally have to do some flashback Naruto/Sasuke!!

Chapter Forty-Three:

On Saturday, Lee and Gaara went down to the dojo. There weren't any classes running and they needed a big opened space in order for Lee to show Gaara how to dance. He downloaded the instrumental to all of Beauty and the Beast and played it from his phone, putting it in his pocket. He took Gaara's hand and Gaara tentatively took Lee's. They took off their shoes solely for the fact that they knew Gaara would be stepping on Lee more than once. 

The first run through, Gaara was staring at his feet the entire time. This caused him to overthink his step, and trip, tumbling them down. The second time, he looked at his feet religiously and wound up being too delayed with his movements and stepped on Lee. 

Before they could do the third time, Lee stopped him from looking at his feet at all. He tilted Gaara's chin up and wrapped his arms around his waist and just swayed back and forth. There was no feet movement except for the sway of their legs. After a while, Lee incorporated small steps. Just little nudges so they were slowly moving in a circle while they swayed. The music blared from his pocket and Gaara began to get more comfortable with just dancing.

Lee hummed along to the music and eventually Gaara joined him. This evolved into singing quietly along. Lee took Gaara into the correct stance of the waltz and Gaara followed, not paying attention. Very slowly, Lee was able to go through the dance while Gaara was distracted with singing. Lee was grinning and made the dance slightly faster. Gaara still was focused on Lee's eyes and singing for it to matter. 

The song was getting to a close and Lee successfully went through the dance steps several times and even managed a small twirl from Gaara which had Lee giggle in delight. He pulled Gaara back and Gaara smiled at him as they reached the end of their notes. The final "Beauty and the Beast" left their lips, the song came to an end, the playlist was done and they were left in the silence of the dojo.

And they kept swaying.

***

Sunday came around and Itachi called Gaara. Gaara stared at the phone nervously. He hadn't heard from Itachi in three days and suddenly he was calling. He didn't know what was wrong but he was almost too scared to find out. 

Gaara was alone in his room so didn't have the presence of Lee to help him. With a bite of his lip, he answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Gaara." The voice sounded relieved. "How are you?"

"I'm okay... How are you?"

"Stressed the hell out. I'm so sorry I didn't text you earlier, I hope you didn't take offence. Work is really difficult right now and everything with the play... Anyway, that isn't an excuse. I found a waltz instructor if you'd like to practice-"

"I don't need one." Gaara cut in and Itachi stayed quiet, momentarily stunned. He wondered if he upset Gaara by not calling him and Gaara was snubbing him. "Lee and I worked it out yesterday. We went to the dojo in the morning. I figured out my problem. I'm fine."

"...What was your problem?" 

"I was overthinking the dance. Once Lee started singing, I started singing and I was distracted and was able to follow him without fucking up for once."

"Gaara..." Itachi said soothingly. "You weren't fucking up. You were learning."

"I have to go." Gaara hung up the phone without a second thought. He was irritated. He was worried for three days that Itachi was upset with him and as it turns out it was just work. A text never killed anyone. Gaara glared at his phone and turned it off and got off his bed. 

He walked into Lee's room and Lee was on his computer typing away.

"Hello, Gaara!" He greeted, not looking up. "Give me a minute I am finishing my essay for math."

"...Why do you have an essay due for math?"

"Lord, I wish I knew why..." He sighed. "The one class I thought I was safe in."

Gaara didn't mind. While Lee was typing he shifted over in the bed to make room for Gaara and Gaara gladly sat next to him and just watched him type.

"You're putting on a lot of muscle lately." Lee blushed and grinned, still staring at the screen. Gaara was impressed with his focus.

"Yes, I have been working out differently lately. Usually I work out and eat to be lean. I looked like a gangly string bean so I thought I would work out to be bigger." Gaara nodded and smirked, Lee didn't see.

"Oh. I see. Very sexy." Lee stopped typing for a second and blinked. He turned around to face Gaara.

"Are you calling me sexy?" Gaara nodded.

"Very, I believe I said." Gaara didn't know why he felt bolder now being angry with Itachi. 

"Gaara..." Lee's voice was low in warning. "You should not say those things..."

"Why not? You don't want to hear them?" Gaara asked innocently.

"Of course I do. But as I have told you before... I only have so much self-control. And you are testing it all the time..."

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Gaara then smirked. "Are you getting excited?" Lee's face darkened.

"You have no idea..." 

"Just by me calling you sexy?"

"No. By you calling me very sexy." Lee's smile was too pure for this conversation. "I need to finish this and you are distracting me..."

"I've been told I'm very distracting. I'll go." Gaara stood up from the bed and Lee gave him such a sad look. "You have to finish that and plus..." Gaara walked to the door, opened it, and turned back around. "I believe you have pictures on there to help with that." Gaara's smirk was sinister and Lee groaned as Gaara shut the door.

***

Hell Week. The name of it didn't do it justice.

During Hell Week, as people participating in a play, essentially what that meant was no one sleeps or eats and they stay in the auditorium and die. Gaara lost count how many times they ran through the play during that week. At the end of Hell Week was the first showing of the musical which is why everyone was freaking out. During this time, EVERYTHING was a dress rehearsal passed the 3rd day. Gaara was getting frustrated with having his wig essentially sewn into his hair. 

Even though Itachi was there, Gaara and Itachi barely talked. There was too much work to be done. Most of the time when Gaara was on stage without Itachi, Lee or Sasuke, they were dead looking in the audience. The sight made Gaara chuckle. Especially since for the most part, he wasn't off the stage so they were lucky they didn't have to be up there.

In school, there were posters put up of the play, even notices during the morning announcements. Gaara heard the hype of students getting ready to see the play and it made him feel ill. 

Ino was jumping for joy, finally being able to see the damn play that stole her best friend. Naruto was pumped too. Each time they declared their excitement for finding out who everyone was, Sakura would sit there with a smirk.

On the last day of Hell Week they were given shirts with the logo and everyone's name who was in the play or working on the play listed on the back. They also got their sweaters with their character name but they weren't allowed to wear them until the second day. By that point, the secret would be out and everyone would know who played Belle.

No one thought it was strange that they didn't know the cast, so this gave Orochimaru the upper hand. He was proud of his cast and crew for not spoiling anything. It was quite a secret to keep, especially with the large amount of people in their cast and crew. This even included the orchestra. It was nice to finally rehearse with the orchestra, they had to wait until Hell Week to do that.

The night before the play, they ran through the play a final time. There was one scene always left out. They would stop before it and skip entirely. The kiss scene. During the transformation scene, they didn't have Gaara act during that moment when the beast died. Orochimaru said Gaara did it so well when he auditioned, they didn't want to lose the spark. So he decided to save it for the very last time. The only thing they practiced was the transformation itself. After that, they skipped to the ending. The kiss scene was also left out because Orochimaru wanted to see passion, and he felt that there wouldn't be passion if they had to kiss every day. 

Little do they know how sad that made Lee.

***

The play premiered on Friday and everyone was at the theatre until 1 in the morning and now they had to go through school. Luckily, since school ended in another week, most everything was done already. The teachers knew which students were in the play and took mercy on them. All day all any of them heard was how excited they were to see the play.

It was really awesome, one of the posters that was put up was actually everyone that was in the play wearing their sweaters with the hoods up and facing the opposite way doing various poses standing in a line. When Gaara saw that poster he would smile at it. The picture was edited. His sweater said Beaux. They changed that to "Beauty" on the poster. It didn't seem off since Lee was next to him with "Beast". Lee made it look like he was handing Gaara a rose and Gaara was in the middle of grabbing it. Itachi was standing on Gaara's other side, making muscles, Sasuke was next to him, hugging his waist. Several more characters were on the poster, but that was the only part Gaara looked at fondly. 

Ino took the poster and tried to figure out who was who based on heights. She was growing frustrated.

The end of the day came and Gaara just wanted to go home. Instead he cried a bit when he saw Itachi's car out front and Sasuke standing next to it and waving him on. Lee was walking next to Gaara and Sakura was already in the car.

"It's time." Lee said excitedly and Gaara just glared at him.

***

The tickets were sold out for the first showing. Ino was lucky she knew most of the cast because they were able to reserve tickets. In the first row nonetheless. She sat with a group of Naruto, Kakashi, Guy, Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru and Jiraiya. Guy was practically giggling and Kakashi whispered "shut up, you'll ruin the surprise." And Ino pouted at the thought of someone knowing the surprise and not her. 

On her lap she had bouquets of flowers for her friends, and a tiny succulent for Gaara. She'd already given him several.

"This is so exciting. I love Beauty and the Beast." Temari was bursting with glee. "I wonder who Gaara is playing."

"Maybe LeFou. He's short." Kankuro said and Naruto laughed.

"I bet Sasuke is playing Gaston. He's a handsome asshole." 

Suddenly the room dimmed and Ino grabbed Temari's hand out of excitement and her and Temari were practically shaking.

On stage there were several groups of people dancing, Ino knew the prince was standing at the top of the steps but there was such a ridiculous looking wig on his head she couldn't tell who it was since the stage was dark.

"Once Upon a time, in a faraway land, A young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind." The lights turned up slightly and a spotlight shone on the prince as he walked down the steps. "He taxed the village to fill his castle with the most beautiful objects, and his parties with the most beautiful people." A blue hued light colored the stage and people began to dance, spotlight still on the prince.

"Is that... Lee???" Ino whispered and Naruto squinted his eyes. Holy shit! Lee was the prince!

"One night, an unexpected intruder arrived at the castle, seeking shelter from the bitter storm." A woman came on stage and Lee stood over her with obvious distaste. "As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose." She handed him the rose and he laughed, as did the rest of the party. "Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the woman away." Lee threw the rose to the ground. "But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. When he dismissed her again, the woman's outward appearance melted away..." The girl on stage stood up and removed the cloak to reveal Sakura. "to reveal a most beautiful enchantress." Sakura was lifted slightly into the air, tricks of light and a fan made her look powerful. Everyone backed up in horror and started to run away. Lee fell to his knees and put his hands together in a beg. "The prince begged for her forgiveness. But it was too late, for she had seen there was no love in his heart. As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast," The lights turned off and with the darkness and projection, there was a silhouette of the transformation on the only area in the stage people could see. "and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. As the days bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world, for the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people they loved. But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose. If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time." The stage crew came out and started removing the castle backdrop and replaced it with the town backdrop and props. "As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?"

The orchestra started playing a medley of music as the crew set up for the next scene and the crowed cheered at the beginning scene.

"I can't believe Lee is the prince!" Ino exclaimed and Temari looked pretty surprised too. Kankuro was laughing.

"What?" 

"I just can't think of something more ridiculous than Lee as a selfish prince." He said and they agreed. 

Guy looked at Kakashi with such a happy grin, proud of his son's performance even though it was only the first 2 minutes of the play. 

The crowd quieted down once the very familiar notes of the next song, "Belle" came on. Actors littered the stage in their costumes and there was a very clear path that Belle would be taking. Suddenly, another actor walked on stage. Brown hair in a ponytail, reading a book, wearing something that resembled peasant Belle's dress but... there were pants? It was a boy?

"Little town, it's a quiet village, every day, like the one before." There was a distinct mood change in the crowd from excitement to confusion. That was most definitely a boy. Why was a boy singing this song? Ino squinted her eyes. It looked like Gaara? But no tattoo or red hair. 

"That's Gaara." Ino covered her mouth. "Gaara is Belle." She whispered aggressively to Temari. Kankuro laughed and covered his mouth to muffle the noise. Ino felt like her world changed. She didn't even think a boy could BE Belle. Naruto was laughing too, thankfully not making too much noise. 

"What could be better than Gaara as Belle?" He said between giggles. "This play is awesome."

"Look there he goes, that boy is so peculiar, I wonder if he's feeling well. With a dreamy far off look, and his nose stuck in a book, what a puzzle to the rest of us is Beaux." They changed the name!

"Oh my god this is so cute I'm dying." Ino took out her phone and took about 300 pictures and Temari was bouncing in her seat. Gaara took a seat on the fountain and held the book to his chest.

"Oh, isn't this amazing? It's my favorite part because you'll see. Here's where she meets Prince Charming! But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!"

"Now it's no wonder that his name means beauty, his looks have got no parallel. But behind that fair façade, I'm afraid he's rather odd, very different from the rest of us, he's nothing like the rest of us, yes different from the rest of us is Beaux!" Two figures walked on stage and Naruto damn near choked on his tongue. His eyes teared up and he shoved his face into his jacket to muffle his laughter but he was sobbing.

"Oh my god, Sasuke is LeFou." Ino said with her mouth opened. 

"Wow, who knew Itachi would be Gaston?"

"They gave him a fat suit!" Naruto tried to breathe correctly but he was choking and fell out of his chair.

"Look at him, LeFou! My future husband. Beaux is the most beautiful boy in the village, that makes him the best!" 

"But he's so well-read! And you're so... athletically inclined." Naruto laughed even harder at hearing his boyfriends voice.

"Yes, ever since the way, I felt like I've been missing something. He's the only boy that gives me that sense of..."

"Hm... Je ne se quoi?"

"I don't know what that means. Right from the moment when I met him, saw him. I said he's gorgeous then I fell. Here in town there's only he, who is beautiful as me, so I'm making plans to woo and marry Beaux."

"This is the best play I've ever seen." Temari whispered to Ino, a few stray tears on her face from laughing. "I never want this play to end. We have Gaara's boyfriend trying to win him from the guy Gaara almost dated and then Sasuke in a fat suit. I didn't think this could get any better."

As the play went on, there was only one more character that really surprised Naruto. Maurice. 

A man sat at a desk, fixing a small music box and sung quietly to himself.

"How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die? It is love we must hold onto, never easy but we try. Sometimes our happiness is captured. Somehow, a time and place stand still. Love lives on inside our hearts and always will." The song ended with Gaara walking over and sitting on his desk. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he really studied the face.

"Is that Iruka??" He asked Jiraiya and Jiraiya looked closely and chuckled.

"Well, I'll be. I didn't know Iruka was a singer..."

"Oh! I wish we got him something! We should bring him something tomorrow. I didn't even know he was in the play! He was the best teacher ever!" Naruto was really touched to see his old teacher, especially playing such a great role for his personality.

But for Naruto, the highlight of the play was seeing his boyfriend in a fat suit singing about how wonderful his big brother really was. He almost peed his pants and he was sure Sasuke heard him and sent him at least 7 glares. He knew he would get yelled at but it was just too funny. Honestly though, Sasuke did a great job with LeFou.

Watching the scenes of Gaara and Lee meeting was magical. Ino was entranced with how well they worked together. Even when they were screaming at each other. She was squeezing Temari's hand so tightly it was almost like she was going into labor. She was just feeling so much and wanted to get it out somehow. She just about died when they started singing to each other.

"There's something sweet, and almost kind. But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined. And now he's dear, and so unsure. I wonder why I didn't see it there before." Ino could tell they deepened Lee's voice, but he still sung.

"He glanced this way, I thought I saw.. And when we touched he didn't shutter at my paw. No, it can't be, I'll just ignore, but then he never looked at me that way before." The two sat together in the fake library pointing at words on the book and smiling at each other. 

"New and a bit alarming, who'd have ever thought that this could be? True, that he's no prince charming, but there's something in him that I simply didn't see." Ino held her hand over her heart and looked at Temari and they shared a look.

The song everyone was looking forward to seeing. Tale as Old as Time.

The violins began to play and on opposite ends of the master stairwell, the two walked down and met in the middle. Gaara wore a golden jacket and black pants. Lee's outfit was unchanged from the original. They took each other's hands and walked down the stairs together. Gaara's heart was pounding, he was most worried about this scene. He was too nervous to dance and he didn't want to mess up in front of everyone. 

Earlier, they were given permission from Orochimaru to sing along with this song since it helped Gaara significantly to dance. Gaara wasn't sure if he could, his heart was thumping. Everyone was watching him with Lee right now. He could hardly breathe.

"Tale as old as time..."

Ino and Temari stared at each other. How sweet! They let them sing the song instead of Mrs. Potts!

"This is my new favorite scene." Temari said, as if she hadn't said that 13 other times through the show. Guy looked to Kakashi and they shared a smile.

"Look at how in love they are." Guy said and Kakashi nodded and leaned his head on Guy's shoulder. 

As they sung the song, everything else melted away. Gaara looked into Lee's eyes as he had so many times before and all there was, was them. Even with all of his beat makeup and everything, it was still Lee. He could feel Lee's hands sweating, gripping his own. Gaara hadn't realized they were at the end of the song and he didn't even trip once. Even through the iconic scene were the beast picks him up and twirls him. 

"Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme. Beauty and the beast." Lee held him as close as he could and they sung the final "beauty and the beast".

They needed to stay put for a second while the crowd calmed down. Apparently they really liked the fact that they changed the scene to have the two of them sing instead. Gaara just smiled up at Lee and he was sure Lee was smiling too.

Ino loved the original movie, but it didn't make her cry. For whatever reason, listening to Lee tell Gaara to go to his father to save him plucked a few heartstrings. Temari was overcome with emotion at their goodbye scene. 

Listening to Lee belt out "Evermore" was what dreams were made of. He did such a beautiful job with the song and Ino never wanted to hear the original ever again. She didn't know someone could sing with that much power. 

The song that got everyone's adrenalin pumping was the mob song. Itachi did such a fantastic job playing a crazy killer that they were immersed into the scene easily.

"We're counting on Gaston to lead the way."

"Call it war, call it threat, you can bet they all will follow, for in times like this, they'll do just as I say."

"There's a beast running wild, there's no question, but I fear the wrong monster's released."

After the fight scene on stage, Temari held Shikamaru's hand and he chuckled at her.

"Don't cry when Lee dies." He whispered and she smacked him, already tearing up.

"Hello beast." Lee turned to face Itachi. "I'm Gaston. Beaux sent me..." Lee looked resigned. "Are you in love with him?" Lee turned away. "Did you honestly think he'd want you?" Itachi shot him and Lee fell.

"Beaux?" Itachi called out, noticing Gaara. Gaara broke his arrows.

"Where is he?" Itachi dropped his bow and grabbed his gun.

"When we return to the village you will marry me. And the beast's head will hang on our wall!" He hissed, with such hatred, Gaara forgot he was acting.

"Never!" Gaara yelled and tried to grab the gun from him. Itachi easily shoved Gaara to the ground and ran off after seeing the beast. "NO!"

"Beaux?" Lee yelled. "BEAUX! You came back!"

"I tried to stop them!"

"Stay there! I'm coming!"

After the fight scene with Itachi and Lee, Lee fell to the ground, weak while bleeding. Gaara ran over to him. This was the first time they were doing this scene. Gaara was already crying.

"You came back..." Lee said through haggard breath.

"Of course I came back. I'll never leave you again." Gaara was shaking and petting Lee in random spots and very clearly trying to stop the bleeding.

"I believe it's my time to leave."

"We're together now. It's gonna be fine." Gaara sniffled and continued to try and help him.

"At least we got to see each other one last time..." With his final breath, the last petal fell off of the rose behind them. Lee laid limp on the stage.

"NO!" The emotion was raw, it made a few people jump. "Please! No..." Gaara fawned over the body, shaking and sobbing. "Come back. Come back. Please, don't leave me, I love you." Gaara hugged Lee's body and cried until he heard the telltale signs of the transformation scene. He leaned back, face covered in tears and stood up in confusion. Lee's body was lifted up, the fog machine started, the stage color set to red and flickered. Lee's body was pulled up and he laid limply until the lights on the stage darkened, his mask was pulled off, his top layer of clothes with it and he was human again.

He regained the upright position and stared at his hands in awe before turning around to stare at Gaara. Gaara tilted his head to the side and walked over slowly. There were lines here but they were left unspoken. It seemed more natural that way. Gaara cupped Lee's face and looked at him, searching until he smiled. Lee wiped the tears off his face with a smile of his own. 

Lee couldn't wait anymore. He'd been dying for this scene. He wanted to kiss Gaara for months and now Gaara stood right in front of him.

Lee cupped the back of Gaara's neck and pulled him in. Gaara's hands cupped Lee's cheeks and Lee wrapped his free hand around Gaara's waist and pulled him in. Then they kissed. 

The cheers from the audience went completely unheard. Right now the only thing Lee focused on was kissing Gaara. He was always told a first kiss would feel like fireworks. When him and Gaara kissed for the first time, sure it was special. But right now, after knowing that he was in love with Gaara and Gaara was in love with him, and this was the last kiss they would have (until the next showing) this was the kiss that had fireworks. 

"This is my favorite part of the play." Temari said to Ino who was also crying.

***

When it was time for the final bow, Lee and Gaara stood in the back waiting for their turn, somewhat awkwardly. They kissed for longer than they were supposed to. But no one really noticed because they stopped kissing and there was still cheering going on. Orochimaru and Kabuto told them they did a good job and they were smiling. Gaara just blushed and looked away. He was standing awfully close to Lee. 

When Itachi went out on stage with Sasuke, there was a loud cheer and even some chants of Gaston's name. There was the very distinct sound of Naruto laughing as well. Lee and Gaara smiled at each other and they got ready to walk out. Orochimaru gave them the okay and when they walked out, the entire theatre was standing and cheering loudly, whistling and screaming. 

They all linked arms and bowed. Gaara looked at Itachi for the first time in what seemed like forever as Itachi and not as Gaston, and he smiled. Gaara smiled back. Roses were thrown on stage and Gaara didn't want to admit that he was tired of seeing roses.

Later on, Orochimaru told them the 50 CDs they set up for sale were completely sold out and they had a lot on back order. This surprised everyone, especially Gaara. He didn't realize he had so many people who enjoyed hearing him sing. It was a wonderful feeling.

Seeing Ino after the play with Temari and Kankuro was lovely. They all hugged him and Temari gave him a succulent as a congratulations. Kakashi hugged him with Guy after they were done congratulating Lee. People were still waiting in the audience to get autographs for their CD's and Gaara was amazed so many people were a fan. What really knocked them over though, was when they saw him and Itachi hug. Itachi was smiling and kissing Gaara's cheek and telling him how fantastic he did. What really surprised Gaara though, was when Itachi put him down and smiled. 

"I love you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY THIS FUCKING PLAY IS DONE. This is where things get interesting. Remember when I asked about instagram? This is when I'll use this. 
> 
> 1) In Gaara's farewell letter to Lee, what is one thing you'd like to see him say?  
> 2) Pretty soon everyone is going away to college, Naruto is staying in the town in community college, this will make him a main character since he'll be with Gaara a lot. What are some things you'd like to see the boys do?  
> 3) Should Lee's popularity follow him to college somewhat?  
> 4) Some comments the fangirls have to say on our boy's instapages??


	44. Chapter 44

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Instagram, graduation, Ino and Gaara kiss. You know. The norms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : THANK YOU. I TRIED. I have been DYING to write that scene! Iruka will be there more next school year! I promise :) Thank you for your comments!  
>  **Rae** : I can't wait to write Sasuke's instagram now. I'm tired or I'd write more but thanks fo yo comment, girl.  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : d'aw I love Castiel. (Die hard Destiel shipper) I'm glad even in german I can make you emotional ;)  
>  **RainiDayz** : I'll have to write a list of places I need to write Naruto, Itachi and Gaara traveling to lol. That'd be the weirdest group of people. Just think of it in the show. "Well... it seems Gaara, Naruto and Itachi put their differences aside and went on a trip together."

Chapter Forty-Four:

Gaara heard Itachi say "I love you" but honestly his brain shut off and he had no idea how to respond to that. He just kind of stared at Itachi confused. Itachi smiled.

"It's fine. You don't have to say anything." His smile was so warm.

Gaara couldn't remember signing all of the CD's he did. He had to take pictures with people and he smiled as much as he could. This was their first showing so they took the time to take pictures with everyone. Naturally, Itachi had the biggest line. Even guys wanted a picture with Gaston, after all. 

After they finished taking pictures and signing autographs, it was time for the age old tradition, after the play was over on opening night, everyone had dinner at a diner and just cheered that the stress was over. There were still 4 more shows for the weekend and Orochimaru extended it to showings next weekend as well since there were so many tickets sold. He was sure they'd either have people cancel because of the same sex couple in the play, and at the same time more tickets would sell.

***

When Gaara finally got home he passed out. He actually passed out in the car. Itachi asked if he wanted to spend the night at the estate since they hadn't seen each other in a while and Gaara declined and told him tomorrow would be better since he was shot.

Lee carried him up to Gaara's bedroom and put him down. Gaara stirred as Lee left and he watched Lee tiptoe out of the room. Gaara frowned at his retreating form and heard him close his own bedroom door.

Gaara couldn't fall back asleep and 10 minutes later, he was opening Lee's bedroom door. Lee was sitting on his bed and blushed when he saw Gaara. Lee was in his underwear on top of the blankets on his phone.

"Hey. I thought you were sleeping." Gaara nodded and closed Lee's door and climbed into bed with him and fell asleep almost instantly. Lee put his phone on the charger and got under the covers with Gaara and held him close. He didn't want this to ever end.

***

Before the play on Sunday afternoon, Ino was over and she was teaching Gaara about an app called Instagram. She insisted he needed it, especially with his growing popularity. She created his account, made his screen name, and followed all the people that Gaara would (namely, his friends.) Gaara looked at it oddly but accepted it was a thing. He glared at Ino when he noticed his screen name but rolled his eyes and explored the app.

He didn't know Lee had an Instagram. He clicked on the name O.G_RockLee and scrolled through his pictures. Ino watched him do it with a smirk. Most of Lee's pictures were with Gaara anyway. The latest picture was the "revealed" poster for the play. It was the same being everyone was wearing their hoodie with the names on the back, everyone was also posed the same, but this time the hoods were down and their faces were seen. The caption read

_Thank you for coming everyone! I had a great time with a great staff! (smiling emoji)_

Gaara went even as far as reading the comments. He was scrolling for a while, he didn't realize so many people saw the play in just 3 shows.

_*Dead. Beauty and the beast was PERFECTION (heart eyes emoji)_  
*Ohhh! This was such a good play! I love that Belle was a boy!  
*Look at that! Belle is a redhead (heart eyes emoji) he's so cute!  
*GASTON IS LIFE THO. WHAT IS HIS INSTA???  
*FORGET GASTON! whAT IS BELLE/BEAUX' INSTA??? I NEED THIS FOR REASONS!  
*I don't think Beaux has an insta. Does anyone know his name??  
*Y'all don't creep at all (laugh crying emoji) if u just looked through Lee's pics, u'd see that he has SO MANY PICTURES WITH BEAUX. HIS NAME IS GAARA  
*YES BUT OK THEIR PICTURES ARE TOO PERFECT AND I LOVE THEM. THEY ARE SO SWEET TOGETHER. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THEY'RE DATING??  
*@O.G_RockLee are y'all dating?? We need to know!!  
*Please please please please 

When Gaara backed out of the picture he noticed there was another picture posted of him and Lee. It was a picture of them sitting in the auditorium sticking out their tongues while waiting for their time to be on stage.

_Hey everyone! There is so many of you. Gaara just got an Instagram. @StudMuffin And no, unfortunately we are not dating. Sorry everyone! He is my best friend! (heart emoji) (smiling emoji)_

Gaara was impressed how many followers he gained within the next hour. Ino made his first picture a picture of the two of them. It was the picture they took in the bakery together while Gaara was rolling cookie dough. Ino was taking a selfie and sticking out her tongue and Gaara just stared awkwardly in the background.

_Eyyyy my BFF made me an insta. Holla holla @iNoEverything –Love Ino_

__ *Aw! He's a baker! (hearteyes emoji)  
*Look how cute he is!  
*Upload some pictures of you and Lee!  
*You were AMAZING in the play!!  
*You're such a great actor!!! (hearteyes emoji)  
*ARE YOU DATING ANYONE??  
*No seriously. Is he dating anyone?? 

As the comments rolled in Gaara just looked meekly at his phone while Ino laughed.

***

When Gaara was getting ready in the back for the last play of the weekend, Itachi sat on the chair next to him.

"I see you've learned how to use Instagram." He said with humor in his voice. 

"No. Ino made me an Instagram and uploaded a picture up of her and I and frankly, I'm much too scared to read any more comments." Itachi chuckled.

"Yes, I got quite a few follows and comments." Gaara was surprised by the twinge of jealousy he felt. "I see a lot of them are asking if you are a taken man." Gaara nodded. "Shall we tell them?" He smirked and Gaara blushed. 

"How do you suppose we do that?" Gaara asked and was thankful they were finally done with his wig. It was before his makeup was applied so his tattoo was still very visible and so were his freckles. Itachi pulled Gaara onto his lap and got his camera ready in selfie mode and kissed Gaara on the cheek. Gaara's cheeks were flushed beautifully and it really brought out his freckles. Itachi looked at the picture and chuckled at the silliness of them kissing in their costumes.

"Look at your smile. You're so cute." Itachi purred and Gaara laughed when Itachi kissed his neck and it tickled him.

"Not cute." Gaara argued and Itachi looked lovingly at Gaara with a smile.

"You are more than cute." He kissed Gaara's nose. "Please, come over tonight. You didn't last night and I really want to talk to you." Gaara felt nervous. "It's nothing bad I just haven't talked to you in over a week. Please."

"Okay. I will."

"Thank you."

***

Gaara later saw the picture Itachi uploaded. Their sweet cheek kiss. Itachi kissed his left cheek, Gaara's left eye was closed and his right eye was looking over at Itachi, his cheeks were pink and he had the cutest smile on his face. Underneath the picture, Itachi wrote,

_**Uchiha_Itachi** Sorry everyone. I'm a taken man. Same with @StudMuffin_

__ *Gaston and Beaux are together IRL?? Is this like the twilight zone??  
*Ohh but they're adorable together.  
*Beaux has a tattoo (hearteyes emoji) and freckles!!! (3 hearteyes emojis)  
*Never thought I'd root for Gaston tbh  
*Gaston is da real MVP. Lettin his man make out with another guy on stage after he 'dies' holla.  
*So... do I like ship Gaara/Itachi or Gaston/Beaux? Why y'all gotta confuse me by posting a pic in your costumes??? (crying emoji) 

Gaara decided to upload a picture. Two of them. One was him and Itachi when Itachi was getting him ready for prom. Ino took the picture. Gaara was sitting down, Itachi's hair was down and over his shoulders and his glasses were on and he was standing over Gaara and fixing his hair. The caption read 

_I don't know how to use Instagram. But here's a picture of my boyfriend @Uchiha_Itachi and I. He's getting me ready for prom._

Then the second picture he uploaded was a picture of Lee pinning his cactus flower on his lapel. Gaara looked awed and Lee was grinning.

_And to not confuse you entirely, here's a picture of me and my (other) best friend, @O.G_RockLee before we went to prom._

__***O.G_RockLee** (crying emoji) I am so happy you have this photo! I do not have a copy!  
*Yo idk about you but this confused me more  
*OMG THEY WENT TO PROM TOGETHER?  
*I literally can't. I ship it. Hard.  
*Look how happy they are~! (crying emoji)  
*I'm literally about to see the play again because these two are perfect and idc if Gaara is with Itachi. You and Lee are life. Pls. have babies. 

Gaara shook his head and got ready for the start of the play.

***

Long after the play, Gaara was still thrumming with emotion after his and Lee's kiss scene. Orochimaru was worried the passion would get less and less as they went through the weekend, but he complimented the two on keeping the scene just as emotional as the first time. Especially with how much Gaara had to cry all weekend.

Ino showed him the tag of the play #freytownBB2018. It had all of the pictures that people took when they saw the play. He went through the tag with a smile, looking at all of the fun moments they had on stage. He went through most of the tag thanking everyone for posting the picture. Even if he wasn't in it.

Lee gave him a tight hug when it was time to go and left with Guy and Gaara went with Itachi. 

When Gaara and Itachi got back to the estate, they were alone. Sasuke wasn't home, he was with Naruto. Itachi led them up to his bedroom and they sat down on the bed (more like collapsed onto the bed from exhaustion) and looked at each other. 

"We should talk." Itachi said tiredly and sat up.

"Okay." Gaara stayed laying down. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Are you okay? You've seemed off for about 2 weeks now. I didn't want to ask you but you didn't seem to tell me on your own. If something is wrong, I'd like to try and help you through it." Gaara just looked at the pattern of the comforter. 

"A lot happened..." Gaara admitted and tried to think of how to explain. He sat up and looked at Itachi, really looked at him. Him and Itachi hadn't been on a very good path lately, Gaara knew it was his own fault. He frowned and hugged Itachi. No matter what happened, Itachi was still a great person that helped him with everything. "My brother gave me a tape. My mom was on it. I saw her die."

"Oh, Gaara. I'm so sorry. Why did he give it to you?"

"...It wouldn't make sense if you didn't know the whole story. I don't feel comfortable explaining everything. Essentially my father told me no one loved me when I was growing up and said my mother hated me. Kankuro found the tape of her pregnant so gave it to me. She was saying she loved me. The tape also had after she gave birth to me and she held me when she died. No once did she say she hated me and I think that’s why he gave it to me. Problem is, it... surfaced bad memories. There was more to the tape... I-I didn't watch it though. I think Kakashi did. He's looking at me differently. Anyway, that's all I want to say about it. I really don't want to remember it. Other than that, I was stressed about the play and now all of my friends are leaving for college and I'm just sad."

"You'll have Naruto. He's staying around." Gaara was thankful Itachi made no comment about his rant and leaned into him. "I'll be here too if you need me. I know Ino and Lee will be gone and I know you're upset about that but there will still be people here who love you." Itachi tried to give Gaara a comforting look. Gaara nodded. "Do you want to just go to sleep?"

"Yes, please."

***

The last week of school was wild. There was a popularity Gaara had now that he never had before. People were congratulating him in the hallway for his performance and he was fairly certain he heard a group of girls squeal when he walked by. There was a lot of attention drawn to him and Lee, especially when they stood next to each other. 

For shits and giggles they wore their cast sweaters. Lee took his off with a grin and handed it to Gaara. Gaara looked down and removed his and handed it to Lee.

"Feels nice to be the beauty." Lee said once he was wearing the sweater.

"The beast is very warm." He wondered how long they'd be able to keep the sweaters on before dying of the heat.

The students weren't the only ones who complimented the group. Lee was praised in nearly all of his classes, so was Gaara and when Sasuke walked into his math class, the teacher laughed so hard he cried and Sasuke groaned.

Less than a week until graduation.

***

"Oh, hello Itachi. I'm afraid Gaara isn't home right now." Kakashi said and Itachi nodded.

"That is precisely why I am here. Can we talk?" Kakashi nodded and let Itachi in. They sat on the couch where Kakashi had a spread of all of his editing work. "That seems like a lot."

"Need extra income so taking on extra work." Itachi nodded. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Gaara." Kakashi nodded, clearly knowing that beforehand. "Specifically what was on the tape." Kakashi looked nauseated.

"He told you about the tape, huh?" Kakashi sighed.

"Not particularly. He told me about his mother, then said he didn't want to talk about the rest. He said he believed you watched it but he didn't want to ask about it but he knew because you were acting different. I'm not here on his behalf though, I'm here on my own. I don't want to bring Gaara into this because I don't believe he really understands the implications. I understand if you have wariness on bringing me into the loop, but I truly believe we can work something out." Kakashi looked intrigued.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Based on Gaara's reaction to it all, and based on all of the times he was guarded with his past, I suppose it's safe to say Gaara was abused. And from the look on your face I have to say it wasn't just slightly, either." Kakashi said nothing and Itachi's thoughts were confirmed. "He told me Kankuro gave him this tape. I wouldn't understand why an older sibling would willingly give this tape to his brother until I began to think. I believe he wants you to use the tape. He's removing himself from the situation considering he still gets along with his father and doesn't want to be in the backlash. I'm guessing you've already figured all of this out and now you're trying to gain additional funds in order to hire a lawyer." Kakashi was impressed by Itachi's perceptiveness. "This is where I would like to help."

"You know a good lawyer?"

"Heh, yes I know several. She's very good, also she has quite the heart for children even though it may seem as if she doesn't. I will hire her for the case. I will also pay her to do it. I love Gaara very much and I will do whatever it takes to make sure he is protected. All I would like in return is answers."

"What did you want to know?"

"...How bad was it?" Kakashi frowned and looked down.

"You honestly don't want to know that. I promise." Itachi nodded slowly and sighed.

"I suppose you would know more than me. We're going to do all we can to make sure Gaara doesn't have to testify. He wouldn't talk to me about it, I doubt he'd want to talk to an entire courtroom of strangers in front of his father. I've already called the lawyer, she should be getting back to me soon."

"Thank you, Itachi. Really." Itachi nodded and rubbed his face, clearly tired. 

"I just wish I didn't have to do this for my boyfriend. I'm going to need the tape if you have it. Unfortunately, Ms. Senju will likely be needing it." Kakashi stood up and went upstairs. He handed the tape to Itachi and when Itachi grabbed the other end, Kakashi didn't let go.

"Please, if you can, make sure this tape does not get destroyed. At least the first 10 minutes. It's all Gaara has of his mother." Itachi nodded.

"Of course. I will make a copy on a disc without anything else."

"Don't watch it, Itachi. You will regret it."

***

Gaara stood in the stands with his sister, Itachi, Guy and Kakashi. They were standing in the middle, it was the closest they could get. Luckily, Rasa couldn't be there. Kankuro didn't seem too upset.

Watching everyone walk on stage was very emotional. When they called "Hatake-Maito Rock Lee" and Guy and Kakashi started whooping. Lee looked over at them with a grin and waved. He smiled at Gaara too. Itachi looked at how excited Gaara was to see his best friend cross the stage, then it was like a switch and he looked somber. Perhaps he realized he was no longer going to be in school with Lee anymore. It was always a sobering thought.

Itachi made sure when Sasuke crossed the stage, he whistled as loudly as possible, outdoing even Naruto who was just yelling obnoxiously as always. 

When Ino crossed the stage, Gaara tried his hardest to make noise but it was hard, he was naturally quiet and he looked so overcome with emotion. Itachi whistled for him and he looked up gratefully.

After the ceremony, the awards and scholarships were awarded. Lee got several sports awards and scholarships including the MVP award for several of the sports he was in. Sasuke also got an MVP award for Soccer and a language scholarship. Ino got an art scholarship and a few art awards. 

Gaara couldn't be prouder of his friends.

***

Itachi threw a rather impressive graduation party for Sasuke, which evolved into a graduation party for everyone since Gaara said he didn't want to make more than one cake. Itachi laughed and agreed once Sasuke said he didn't care.

Gaara's cake was beautiful. It was a 4 tiered cake made to look like books, a rolled up diploma, and scattered around the cake were fondant figures of his friends in their graduation gear. When Lee saw his tiny fondant person, he cried and hugged Gaara. Sasuke insisted that his wasn't to be eaten and Ino made it a point to tell him how disgusting fondant tasted so no one wanted to just take a chunk of it in their mouth. She also took hers. Naruto giggled gleefully when he saw his and made sure he moved it closer to Sasuke's and winked over at Sasuke who blushed and glared. No one was more surprised to have a figurine on the cake than Sakura. She just stared in shock and Gaara gave her a small smile. She was so touched.

Naruto convinced Itachi to buy rather large bouncey places. One was a giant inflatable twister mat, one was a water slide, and the last one was an obstacle course. Lee and Sasuke made it a point to race as fast as they could through that several times. 

No one actually played twister on the twister mat. They grabbed drinks and just lounged in it. 

This time, the teenagers drank openly, not really caring because they were leaving for college anyway and the parents were too occupied inside the house.

Eventually the group congregated onto the twister mat. Gaara snorted when a tipsy Lee, climbed on and immediately fell and hit his face. Ino cried because she didn't get a video of it and Gaara patted her on the shoulder. She was too drunk right now. Which was impressive because he felt like they only just started passing out drinks.

"We need to play a game!" Naruto announced and jumped up and tripped and fell onto Lee who still didn't get up from tripping to begin with.

"Ow." Lee's muffled voice said and Gaara tried to stop himself from laughing.

"Let's play suck and blow!" Ino shouted and Naruto and Lee's heads shot up.

"What the hell are we playing?"

"Suck and blow! You take a piece of paper and you put it to your lips and you suck so it stays to your lips, you lean into the next person and you blow it to them as they suck and you keep doing that."

"What the fuck is the purpose of that game?" Sasuke asked. "Who wins?"

"If you drop the paper you can either kiss the person you dropped it with to stay in the game or you back out of the game and you lost." Gaara was thankful the Twister mat wasn't visible from the house, the obstacle course and the water slide were all in the way. 

They formed a circle and if it seemed like Lee tried a bit too hard to sit next to Gaara, they didn't tease him about it. Yet.

Lee now held a Mike's Hard Black Cherry in his lap and Gaara took a sip of it every now and again. Ino sat next to Gaara on his other side. Then Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto and back to Lee. Ino took out a piece of paper from her pocket and held it to her lips and turned to Gaara. She sucked, leaned in at the same time he did, blew, Gaara was able to successfully take it from her, passed it to Lee until they finally dropped it in-between Naruto and Sakura.

"I'm not kissing him. Who's out?"

"Well, he dropped it before he turned to you completely so he is." Naruto whined but pushed himself back and they closed the circle and began again. This time, the paper dropped in-between Gaara and Ino. Ino looked up at Gaara and smiled. "Kiss me?" Gaara sighed but kissed her anyway. "Thanks boo, you're a great friend." Gaara rolled his eyes and the game started up again. For about 4 seconds and Sasuke dropped it after taking it from Lee. 

"Aw! Sasuke has to kiss Lee to stay in the game~!" Sakura giggled and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He turned to Naruto and Naruto was giggling.

"Ha-ha you're the second person out!" He teased and Sasuke frowned and turned back to Lee and kissed him. "Aw come on!" Naruto cried and Ino laughed loudly.

The next time they dropped it was in-between Sakura and Ino. The two girls stared at each other for a solid 30 seconds. Finally, they decided they were drunk enough so kissed and Gaara just stared at them in shock. When Ino passed off the paper to him, he turned his head and then laughed, remembering Sakura kissed Ino and laughed for about a minute before he stopped. Lee was staring at him with a smile.

"You have to kiss me to stay in the game." Gaara laughed again, took Lee's Mike's hard and took a sip.

"Wow, something I've never done before." He handed Lee the bottle and kissed him. The grin on Lee's face after that was so wide and lovesick it made Sakura laugh. What a weird fucking day.

When Sasuke dropped the paper between him and Sakura is when he pushed himself out of the game. This made things awkward for the four since Sakura and Lee were sitting next to each other. 

From that point, they did pretty well not to drop the paper. All good things come to an end though when Sakura dropped it between her and Lee. She looked over at Gaara for a second and smiled and pushed herself out of the game. Lee moved so he was sitting in a triangle between Gaara and Ino. They were going for a while, probably a minute and a half until Ino dropped the paper, then looked up to see Lee's eyes.

"Sorry honey, I don't steal men from my boo." She stood up and pat him on the head, walking away from the game to the other losers.

"How do we know who wins?" Gaara asked. "It doesn't seem like this game can be played with two people."

"I'm... actually too drunk right now to remember the end of the game." Ino laughed. "But you can just make out. It's fine." Gaara rolled his eyes.

Later on, they decided that they could totally 100% do the obstacle course while drunk. They could not, in fact, run the obstacle course while they were drunk. Even Lee, the most nimble of them, pretty much fell instantly. This just made it so everyone went in the obstacle course and sat in random places. 

Gaara found a nice cozy tunnel to lay in further from the beginning than the others. He was so tired he felt like he could just fall asleep right there. He almost did until he felt the shifting movement of someone coming into the tunnel. Gaara looked up and saw the shadow of Lee.

"'hullo." Gaara said tiredly and Lee laid next to him, it was a tight fit, but the material of the bounce house made it not uncomfortable.

"Hi." Lee said sleepily and pulled Gaara close to him. "Mmm." Lee nuzzled against his neck and Gaara giggled at the feeling. His body felt like it was heavy but floating at the same time. It was strange being drunk. It was also difficult to think straight. It was just nice having Lee right next to him.

Lee began to nibble on Gaara's neck and Gaara started laughing and pushing Lee away.

"You're tickling me." Gaara said and Lee didn't know why he did this but decided since the tiny nibbles tickled, he was going to bite Gaara instead because that doesn't tickle.

It didn't tickle, not even slightly. Gaara did not laugh, but he did make a noise. A whimper. Lee jerked his head away.

"'m s'rry." He rubbed his face. "I dunno why I did that." He looked at Gaara and how Gaara's expression wasn't one in pain, as he thought. There was that look of lust again and in Lee's drunken haze, he remembered when Gaara said he liked things rough.

"Just go to bed, Lee." Gaara whispered. "Before we do something dumb." Lee didn't want to agree, but he laid back down next to Gaara and was just too comfortable and passed out.

***

Gaara woke up at 4 in the morning. He didn't want to move but he really had to pee. He crawled out of the tunnel and took the plunge into the padding beneath. On wobbly legs he made his way back to the house, passing most of his sleeping friends along the way. Why they all decided to sleep in the obstacle course, he would never know.

He went inside and was amazed by the quiet house. He walked through the hallways until he got to the bathroom. Once he was done, he walked out and walked straight into Itachi's chest. Itachi scared him and he covered his mouth and heart.

"Oh I am so sorry." Itachi apologized. "I heard someone in the house and I wanted to find out who it was. Are you okay?" Gaara nodded and took in a deep breath. "Oh, Gaara I really am sorry." 

"Sorry I didn't really spend time with you yesterday." Gaara apologized and Itachi just smiled warmly.

"No need. You were spending time with your friends. That's important too. I don't mind. Did you have a good time?" Gaara frowned, trying to remember.

"I think I kissed Ino." He admitted and Itachi laughed.

"Wow, I can't believe Ino stole my boyfriend. Of all the people at the party." Gaara shook his head.

"No. We were playing a game... suck and blow?"

"Sounds kid-friendly." Gaara nodded.

"Yeah I can't remember much I'm tired and drunk still I think. Can I sleep?" Itachi nodded at him. 

"Of course. Where would you like to sleep?"

"With you." Itachi smiled and led Gaara to go to bed. Gaara feeling a nagging sense of guilt the entire time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) How would I make this story more popular? On tumblr I see there's still a thriving community for GaaLee stories and mine is almost (actually I think it might just be the longest now I can't remember) GaaLee fic that updates every day sometimes twice and still, I have barely any traffic. I even changed the summary and nothing. Please help :( I'm working very hard here. I just feel underappreciated (not to any of my normal 6 commenters, Y'all are life. thanks a bunch)  
> 2) With Neji coming in soon, what is something you'd like to see between him and Lee?  
> 3) Is there anything you'd like to know that I haven't revealed and or never elaborated on? (y'all aren't getting why Sasuke was in a banana costume lemme end that here. lmao)
> 
> Add me on instagram! @Smoresies :)


	45. Chapter 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magazine interview!  
> Beginning of their vay-cay!  
> Spoopy chapter~! 
> 
>  
> 
> [Note: Some of this chapter is based on true events when my best friend visited the Stanly Hotel in Colorado! She called me crying]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : NO! NO ONE IS FINDING OUT ABOUT THE BANANA  
>  **Rae** : Yeah I tried on tumblr but I don't have enough pull in the fandom for it to matter. Yasss their sports rivalry will be great. I'm so excited. In just two more chapters we will have Neji. (maybe even the next one idk) Aw ilu2 ray. xoxo  
>  **Luna_Lilly** Yes! that is exactly what Gaara is doing. He is cheating. He doesn't realize it yet but he is. This is why I said both of them need to grow. He needs to know what he's doing is wrong and stop doing it. This is the only time he'll be able to have a happy relationship. (My artwork is terrible I don't need to subject tumblr to it lol. I don't even know who to talk to :( )  
>  **Lola** : As of now, no they weren't. I have no idea if they ever will be. It depends on the way the story takes me!

Chapter Forty-Five:

"Look! It's the magazine you boys interviewed for!" Kakashi handed a magazine to Lee and Gaara and they flipped it opened. Gaara almost forgot about it.

_**Beauty and the Beast meet 2018!** _

_I'm sure many of you have heard about the amazing new musical that has sparked some interest down in Freytown and I am here to answer your questions about it! It excites me to have the three main characters with me today, Beauty (Now Beaux, played by Sabaku Gaara), the beast (Played by Hatake-Maito Rock Lee) and of course, Gaston!(Played by Uchiha Itachi) These actors did a fantastic job on the stage and I've taken the most asked questions from YOU my dear readers to get more insight on this great play._

_**Q: Now this one is for all of you. What did you think of when you found out the play was Beauty and the Beast?**  
L: Oh! I told Gaara as soon as I found out! It was my favorite movie growing up and he also really loved the movie.  
G: It was exciting. I didn't think I would be IN the play though. I would've been fine just watching it.  
I: It's always nice to do an old classic.  
 **Q: Did any of you expect to get a role?**  
G: No. I was really nervous and felt like I was going to pass out. I thought the judges saw that and wouldn't cast me.  
I: I auditioned to try and get Gaara to. I wasn't planning on being cast.  
L: [LAUGHS] No! I was not even auditioning! Gaara wanted to sing Tale as Old as Time and I offered to sing it with him and I guess they liked me.  
 **Q: Really?? That's so crazy to hear! So you didn't even want a part? I can't IMAGINE the play without either of you as your roles.**  
L: Not really [LAUGHS] I thought I could not act so I was not going to try out. They seemed to like me though.  
I: I thought it would be unfair to me to get a part since I donate to the Theatre. I didn't want to seem like I unfairly got the part or anything.  
 **Q: Well, Lee you were fantastic as the Beast so you can absolutely act! And Itachi! Man! [LAUGHS] That Mob Song gave me the chills. You really know how to play that character.**  
I: Thank you very much.  
 **Q: Now the question everyone has been dying to know. How did Belle become Beaux?**  
G: Um... I guess this is a question for me, right? Belle wasn't really supposed to be a boy. During the reading they gave the Belle part to all the girls to read and then when it was Lee's turn to read for The Beast, they asked me to read for Belle since all the girls went already. We read the beast's death scene and I suppose they thought we did well. After, the play director called Itachi and Itachi gave me the phone and he asked if I wanted to be Belle.  
 **Q: If I had to guess, I'd say the reason you got Belle was your marvelous performance with that death scene. It gave me the chills. Did you read it the same way you acted when you were on stage?**  
L: Yes he did!   
I: We were all blown away in the reading room when he read it because there was more emotion in that one scene he read than any of the other Belle's.   
G: As they said, yes. The scene is... emotional. I don't like that scene.  
 **Q: Really? But you act it so well!**  
G: I don't like imagining Lee dying.  
L: Aw, Gaara, I do not like dying!  
 **Q: So is that how you got in the mindset? You saw Lee dying?**  
G: Yes. The scene was easy to do because I really wasn't acting. The thought of Lee dying is very upsetting to me.   
L: Stop, you will make me cry.  
 **Q: That's so nice. You two must be very close. A lot of fans are wondering if you two are together.**  
G/L: No.  
L: Gaara is a taken man, but I am not his boyfriend.  
G: I'm actually dating Itachi.  
I: Heh, yes.  
 **Q: What?? Really? Beauty and Gaston. Nice ring to it. Itachi, how did you feel being cast as Gaston while your boyfriend is constantly trying get away from you?**  
I: I said earlier I wasn't expecting a part, but if I got a part I wanted to be Gaston. I like the bad guy vibe he has. It was fun to play. Especially with my little brother as LeFou. [LAUGHS] He was so pissed when they put him in a fat suit and made him sing how great I was.  
L: [LAUGHS]  
 **Q: That is hysterical! So you didn't mind that Gaara played Belle and Lee played the Beast?**  
I: Not at all. They worked great together and I got to be Gaston. They were best friends before I even met Gaara so it must've been fun for them to do.  
 **Q: I see. I'm sure you've made a lot of fans happy by the willingness to have them do their roles. Were there parts you wanted when you auditioned?**  
L: Like I said, I didn't even know I was auditioning. I was just singing with my best friend.  
G: I kind of wanted LeFou, honestly.  
I: I would have loved for you to be my LeFou.  
G: Then who would be the girl you were fawning over?  
L: Me. I would be Belle. [LAUGHS]  
I: [LAUGHS]  
G: Who would be the Beast?  
L: Sasuke.  
I: Would he still be in the fat suit?  
L: Of course. Cannot have Sasuke without the fat suit.  
G: I hope he reads this.   
**Q: You boys are too funny. Now, Lee and Gaara, you said you sung together for the audition. Tale as Old as Time? Is that why you two wound up singing it in the ballroom scene? You did a beautiful job with it, by the way.**  
L: Actually that is not the reason we sung it. Gaara is probably the clumsiest person in the cast.  
G: Thank you, Lee.  
I: He didn't lie though. They took out most of your dancing for fear you would hurt yourself.  
L: So since he was so clumsy and they took out most of his dancing scenes, they told him they were not under any circumstances taking out this dancing scene. Gaara and I wound up going to the Dojo my parents own to practice and he probably broke several of my toes-  
G: -I didn't but I wish I did now.  
L: [LAUGHS] anyway, we finally found that the only way he was not concentrating too hard on dancing is when he was singing. So we started singing and he got distracted and then we were able to do the scene no problem!  
 **Q: Wow, that's so great. And the director let you two sing the song. That was a beautiful scene.**  
L: Honestly, it was a dream come true. I was so happy to sing that song with Gaara on stage!  
G: I feel the same way.  
 **Q: Is there any other tidbits you'd like the readers to know? Some fun facts behind the scenes?**  
G: When they say the week leading up to the play is Hell Week, don't think that it's a cute nickname. It is hell.  
I: I can agree with that. And Gaara really doesn't like putting his hair in a wig. Fun fact. He would complain about it every day.   
G: During Hell Week, Itachi would talk like Gaston outside of the theatre too. So that was fun.  
I: Just staying in character.  
G: He complimented his reflection on several occasions.  
I: Lee can you distract Gaara, please.  
L: Fun fact! The first time Gaara and I actually acted the death scene out, was during the first showing. Before that, we skipped that scene entirely. Orochimaru did not want us to get tired of that scene.  
 **Q: Really? That's amazing. How did you remember your lines if you didn't run through it?**  
G: Like I could forget what to say while Lee was dying.  
L: I had like two lines so it was not a big deal.  
I: Did they tell you they had lines after the transition scene but they forgot them?  
G: We didn't forget them.  
L: We just left them out.  
I: Yeah okay.  
 **Q: Did you? Why would you leave out lines?**  
L: It just... did not feel natural.  
G: Yeah. If my boyfriend came back from the dead as a human I wouldn't stand there asking him if it was really him. I mean I literally just saw him transform, I wouldn't think he was replaced with an evil twin stunt double or whatever.  
L: Yeah. The "oh my god is it you? It is!" did not feel natural so we just kissed.  
I: Secretly Lee's favorite part of the play.  
L: Secretly?  
G: Only secret is he wishes it was you, Itachi.  
I: I would've made a fantastic Belle. You would've been okay for Gaston too.  
L: They would only be able to do that if they found a kindergartener to be LeFou, it is the only person short enough to make Gaara look tall.  
G: I don't want to be your Beaux anymore. I quit.  
 **Q: One more question before we go. The kiss scene! It was so romantic and authentic. I saw the play on the first day, I got tickets as soon as they were on sale. Now you said you skipped that part entirely but there was a spark there on stage. Was that really the first kiss you two had?**  
L: Uhh...  
I: [LAUGHS]  
G: Yes, it was our first Beaux and Beast kiss.  
 **Q: [LAUGHS] You're looking awfully guilty, Lee. And Gaara that was much too specific. Was it not your first Gaara and Lee kiss?**  
I: [LAUGHS]  
L: Well...  
G: No.  
L: No it was not... [LAUGHS]  
 **Q: [LAUGHS] I'm sure that is some information our readers would love to hear! Well thank you so much for joining us and for the wonderful play you put on. Readers, if you weren't lucky enough to see it in the theatre, they should be releasing it on YouTube sometime soon.** _

The picture for the interview was a picture of Itachi holding Gaara bride style, Gaara smiling at Itachi and Itachi sticking his tongue out at Lee whose arms were crossed and he was glaring. It came out really cute.

"So..." Kakashi started and smirked. "Not your first kiss, eh?"

"I have a thing to do." Lee left the room and Gaara stared in his wake with a pout. Kakashi just laughed.

***

"Do you have everything?" Lee asked as he walked into Gaara's room. Gaara sat on his luggage and was primping his tree. It had grown a considerable amount since Christmas time. Lee was always in awe when he came into Gaara's room. There were so many plants. Ino had decorated his room with beautiful succulents and he had an entire herb garden in his window. Guy said it looked more like nature inside his room than it did outside in nature.

"I just have to say goodbye to my plants. Is Itachi here?" Lee walked in and sat on the bed.

"No. He should be soon though. I still cannot believe we are going on a road trip and driving to Disney." Gaara grinned.

"I know. It's exciting." He stated and stood up and pet his tree lovingly. "Let's go." Lee quickly grabbed Gaara's luggage before Gaara could object and ran downstairs. Gaara rolled his eyes and shut his light off. He left a strict watering schedule on his door for Kakashi to follow while he was away and left his window opened.

Kakashi and Guy were downstairs at the kitchen table and smiled at them when they came down.

"We hope you guys have fun." Guy said and stood up walking over to the two and handing them money.

"Why are you giving me money?" Gaara asked and Guy smiled.

"It's what dads do when their kids go on a trip." Gaara pressed his lips together and didn't say anything. He just hugged Guy. The gesture had Guy in tears and then Lee was tearing up too. Gaara was thankful there was a knock at the door and Itachi walked in.

"Are you two ready? Hello Guy. Hello Kakashi."

"Yosh!" Lee yelled and grabbed his and Gaara's suitcases and left the house. Gaara went to the corner of the kitchen and grabbed the cooler he packed filled with snacks and drinks and followed him. Itachi watched them leave and shut the door.

"I talked to my lawyer." Itachi started. "She looked over the video and she's absolutely disgusted with what she saw. I still don't know what's on it so you might want to talk with her about the case. This is her number. She's looking to attempt to get prison time. Fortunately, Gaara is not 18 yet so the Stature of Limitations has not started ticking, otherwise we'd only have 3 years to get him convicted. There's harsher punishments for cases of sexual abuse, which she tells me he has not endured, according to the tape, but she isn't sure how strong the penalty would be for straight abuse. Another problem is the discovery rule she's trying to get thrown out since there is solid proof. It essentially says that they need to remember it and if they forget it's considered a disability. I figured I'd let you two know now. And I heard Gaara say he had a photo album. Do you know where that is?"

"No. He took it." Itachi frowned.

"I know you won't want to look for it, but you're going to have to. If there is different abuse monitored in the book, it would really help us put him away for longer. Please find it. Please talk to my lawyer. 

Itachi quickly left before they noticed he was gone and Kakashi and Guy looked at each other.

***

"Itachi! This isn't your car. Where is your car?" Gaara asked and Itachi smirked at him.

"I had to upgrade for the trip so I rented one" Gaara was just impressed by the size. A Ford Excursion. The car was a monster. "This one comfortably seats 8. No sitting on laps here." Lee helped Gaara push the cooler in the car and they situated it so it wouldn't slide and they could open it comfortably. Sasuke sat in the very back, Lee sat in the middle row and Gaara sat up front with Itachi. "Who are we getting first? Ino, Sakura or Naruto?"

"Naruto is closer, right?" Gaara asked, looking at Sasuke.

"No one knows where Ino lives but you, Gaara." Itachi said and Gaara thought.

"Yeah. Naruto is closer. Let's get him."

Picking up Naruto was a quick stop. He didn't bring much in his bag and Sasuke helped him put it in the trunk. He sat in the back with Sasuke and they were on their way to get Ino and Sai. 

Ino took forever to get her stuff in the car since she packed more than she should've. Sai just groaned and shoved everything in the trunk. Ino sat in the middle with Lee and Sai. They drove off to pick up Sakura last. She didn't pack much but with all of the luggage already, it was difficult to get her bag in the trunk. She sat in the back with Naruto and Sasuke.

"I'm so happy you made snacks, boo. You're such a mom friend." Ino giggled and grabbed a sandwich. 

"Leave me alone. I like making food."

"That's fine. It's your contribution to the gang. Mine is my good looks." Gaara rolled his eyes.

"An answer to a question I never asked." She ignored him.

"How long till we get to the hotel?" Ino asked and Itachi looked at the GPS.

"In approximately 8 hours. Good thing we left early." He said sarcastically, mainly aiming this at Sasuke. "We'll get there at 9pm if there isn't any traffic. Way to go, guys. We'll be there at like 1 in the morning."

"At least we have each other!" Naruto yelled from the back. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Being corny." Sasuke said bluntly.

"You know what, Sasuke? I think I figured out what I'm going to do the ENTIRE WAY THERE." Naruto cleared his throat. "I KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES-"

"-NO!-" Everyone yelled.

"-EVERYBODY'S NERVES! EVERYBODY'S NERVES! I KNOW A SONG THAT GET'S ON EVERYBODY'S NERVES AND IT GOES A LITTLE SOMETHING LIKE THIS. I KNOW A SONG-" Sasuke covered Naruto's mouth with his hand.

"You gotta kiss em, Sasuke. Take one for the team." Ino said and Sasuke smirked at her.

"Maybe later." Naruto's face turned pink and he shut up.

"Don't tell them to make out. I'm right next to them." Sakura complained and Sai chuckled.

"All the better." 

***

They got to the hotel in record time. By record time, it was only 12am instead of 1. Itachi was very unhappy and wanted to sleep. Gaara scolded him for driving the entire time instead of having someone else drive but he didn't listen. At least they were only an hour away from Disney now. 

They all got their luggage and dragged it to the hotel lobby. They were given 4 key cards to rooms that were connected. The sleeping arrangements were discussed in the car. The girls would be staying together (with surprisingly not a lot of arguments), Naruto and Sasuke were sharing a room, Itachi and Gaara, finally Lee and Sai. Lee was extremely uncomfortable staying with someone he didn't know but it was better than the alternative where he slept with Sakura and Ino was with Sai.

Itachi and Gaara had the room furthest down the hall, room 66. Lee and Sai were next to them in room 64. Sakura and Ino were in room 62 and finally Naruto and Sasuke were in room 60. 

They all entered their respective rooms and couldn't wait to go to sleep...

***

In Naruto and Sasuke's room, they sat cross-legged on the bed just talking. Eventually they started talking about different religions.

"I dunno, man. I'm just sayin' I don't like the cross. It's weird. How are you gonna wear the thing your savior was pinned to? It's creepy." Naruto explained and Sasuke chuckled.

"Out of all the things in the world THAT'S what you find most creepy? Sasuke teased and Naruto nodded his head. "You're strange."

"What do you think is creepy, Sasuke?" Sasuke never really thought about it. 

"I suppose the time when we went in that house in the park and the flashlight died, that was pretty creepy." Sasuke said and it seemed instant, the light by his bedside flickered. "Not funny, Naruto."

"What?" Naruto asked seriously. "I'm sitting next to you. How would I be doing that?" The light completely went off and Sasuke shifted in the bed over to Naruto's side. "Sasuke, what the hell?"

"Why did the light just go off?" Sasuke asked and Naruto stared at it. He leaned in and tried to turn the light on but it was dead.

"I have no idea. Maybe the bulb was bad?" Naruto suggested and Sasuke fell out of the bed and when he bumped into the nightstand next to Naruto, the light started to flicker until it just died out. Sasuke jumped up onto the bed. "What the hell?"

"I have no idea. Should we go ask Itachi?" Sasuke asked, slightly hysterical.

"You want to run to your big brother?" Naruto tried to tease but once the ceiling light began to flicker, he was out of the bed, dragging Sasuke behind him.

***

Sakura sat in her bed, painting her nails while Ino was in the shower. It was almost 2 in the morning and she was glad to be done with today. It was exhausting being in a car, she didn't even know why.

There was a knock at the door and she got up confused. If one of the boys wanted to go to their room, they could've went through the connecting doors. She opened the door and a tall man dressed in a tux was holding a stack of towels.

"For the shower." He said and Sakura thanked him looking slightly confused. She wondered when Ino placed the call to room service.

"Thank you..." She looked to see his nametag to thank him properly and was confused when he didn't have one. He simply smiled at her and walked away. Before she could close the door, Naruto and Sasuke ran passed looking like a bat out of hell. She wanted to yell at them for almost bumping into the hotel worker but they seemed to be too freaked out. She shook her head and closed the door and walked to the bathroom and knocked on it.

"Yeah?" Ino called from the shower.

"I have your towels." Sakura said.

"What?" Ino yelled. Sakura opened the door and poked her head in the room.

"I said I have your towels." Ino opened the curtain slightly to look at Sakura.

"I have towels." She said and pointed to the stack above the toilet on the rack. Sakura put the new stack on the counter.

"Well room service came and brought more." Ino looked confused.

"At 2am without being asked? How did they know I was in here?" Sakura paused and shrugged. "That's dedication. Okay. Well thanks." Sakura nodded and left the bathroom.

***

"Can you just reset it?" Sai asked and Lee was messing with the alarm clock. For whatever reason it wouldn't go passed 3:33AM and it kept blinking. It was really irritating and Lee wanted to just go to sleep. 

Sai took it from Lee and pressed the buttons aggressively until he was satisfied with the new time of 1:46AM. He put it down and Lee and Sai both got into their beds. 

There was a static sound a second later and Lee groaned and looked at the alarm clock which seemed to turn on by itself and as if it were counting the seconds, it was adding minutes to the clock.

"Sai..." Sai sat up from his bed and walked over to Lee. They both stared as the clock went from 2am all the way to 3:33 am, stopped, then started flashing. The radio turned on with a loud sharp sound and Sai grabbed it and yanked it out from the wall. To his surprise, it was still flashing.

"What the fuck?" Sai jumped back and Lee hopped up on his bed and looked at the connecting door to Itachi and Gaara's room. 

"L-let us go." He said and Sai nodded enthusiastically and they jumped to the door.

***

Itachi was opening his luggage and folded some clothes for the next morning when he woke up for their Disney trip. Gaara laying on the bed on his stomach, scrolling through his phone. Probably looking at Instagram. He had a fascination with the succulents tag. When Itachi was changed into his pajamas, he walked up to the bed, thankful that they had a King sized bed with a connecting room for everyone else. He thought it would be harder to get a King sized bed next to two rooms with twin beds and a queen sized bed. Apparently not.

"It's really cold in here." Gaara said and Itachi shook his head. He wasn't cold at all. Gaara shifted in the bed and went under the blankets. Randomly, Itachi felt a rush of cold air. At the same time, Lee and Sai burst through the connecting door and Sasuke and Naruto came in through the main door. Itachi and Gaara just stared at them.

"What is going on?" Itachi asked and Sasuke and Naruto were damn near wheezing. They quickly slammed the door behind them as did Lee and Sai.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked. Sasuke looked at all of the lights like a crazed animal and Lee looked at the alarm clock. "What happened?" Lee felt a cold chill and jumped from his spot and everyone got on the bed with Itachi and Gaara. "Do I need to ask again?"

"Demon alarm clock." Sai stated.

"All the lights died." Naruto said and they all just stared at each other.

"Seriously. What happened?" Itachi asked and Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"We were in bed talking about things that were creepy and I told Naruto one time I went somewhere in the dark and my flashlight died and then the light next to me flickered and died." Itachi nodded, not seeing how that was worthy of them breaking down the door and getting into bed with him and Gaara. "Then I went to Naruto's side of the bed and THAT light flickered and died. Then the ceiling light flickered and died. Then we were sitting in the dark and ran out." Itachi nodded and turned to Sai and Lee.

"The alarm clock..." Lee said slowly. "Was stuck blinking at 3:33 and then we changed it to the right time and it... slowly went back to 3:33 and started blinking again. Even when we yanked it from the wall. And it was making noises." Itachi nodded. He then got out of bed and walked to the connecting door and went into Lee and Sai's room.

What he found was, the entire room was in immaculate condition and the alarm clock sat nicely on the nightstand shining the correct time. When the group followed him into the room, Sai and Lee stared at each other wide eyed.

"N-no. I threw that thing." Sai said and Lee nodded meekly. Itachi just raised an eyebrow. 

Not wanting to disturb the girls, Itachi left the room and entered Sasuke and Naruto's room through the hallway door. When he opened it, all of the lights were on.

"Are you fucking kidding..." Sasuke whispered under his breath. "I am NOT going back in there."

"Sasuke, the lights are on." Itachi argued.

"They weren't before!" He yelled and Naruto shushed him and he frowned. "Naruto, tell him they all went off before."

"They were all dead." Naruto confirmed and Itachi stood with a raised eyebrow.

"You believe us, right Gaara?" Lee asked and Gaara looked uncertain.

"I don't doubt that you saw something but everything looks okay so I don't know. I wasn't there." Lee frowned. It was going to be a long night.

***

On barely any sleep, everyone was up and ready to go to breakfast. 

They all met each other in Itachi and Gaara's room and from there they walked downstairs to the dining room. The waiter came over to take their drink orders and Sakura couldn't keep the nagging curiosity down.

"Excuse me, weird question, I'm sorry. If I asked for towels to be sent to my room, who would bring them?" She asked and the waiter didn't seem disturbed at all by the question.

"Housekeeping would." They answered and Sakura nodded.

"No one else?" He shook his head. "What is their uniform? Is it a tuxedo?" The waiter laughed and shook his head.

"No. It's gray scrubs. I have to think that wearing a tuxedo to clean all day would be uncomfortable." Sakura nodded again.

"Does anyone wear a tux?" She asked.

"No. Not even the owner or managers. That's a bit too formal for us."

"And I see you're wearing a nametag. Is that mandatory?" She asked.

"Oh absolutely. It's such an imperative part of the uniform that if I forgot my own nametag, I would borrow someone else's. If you don't have a nametag you could be fired." Sakura felt a chill but smiled all the same.

"Okay. Thank you." He walked away and Ino looked at Sakura.

"What was that about?"

"The guy that brought you towels this morning. He was wearing a tux and no nametag. Wait, Naruto and Sasuke almost ran into him. Hey. Naruto. Sasuke. Do you remember the guy you almost ran into when you ran out of your room?" She asked and Sasuke and Naruto shook their heads.

"No. There wasn't anyone at your door." They said and Sakura frowned feeling more uncomfortable than before.

***

"Not funny, Sasuke. So not funny." Naruto said, coming to an abrupt stop. Sasuke bumped into Naruto from behind. 

"What's not funny?" He asked and Naruto pointed to their door.

Drawn in water was a cross on their door.

"Naruto... I didn't... I was with you the whole time." Naruto just turned to Sasuke and hugged him, shaking his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [True Events]  
> *My best friend is creeped out by crosses and a cross was drawn on her door when she woke up.  
> *Some dude in a tux gave her towels at 2am after her shower. No one knows who he was.
> 
> 1) What should happen at Disney??? Should they have brought their costumes?? (Because in this, you can dress up at Disney because I'm the writer)  
> 2) Any last things you want with Gaara and Lee (besides the photo album.) any place they should go? Otherwise when they get home I'm skipping to when Lee leaves for college!  
> 3)So I re-read the apple picking scene, I even read it to my husband. I haven't read that scene since forever ago. Yes it's a nice scene but why is it everyone's favorite? I was laughing and said "out of 44 chapters out right now, a small section in chapter 8 is everyone's favorite."
> 
> Oh and this time I'm ACTUALLY getting my laptop looked at (I think) so idk when chapter 46 will be out yet. Leave me some love. Help me get more love. Recommend me on tumblr idk. Help. I only get like 30 views or so per chapter. :(


	46. Chapter 46

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DISNEY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where was all my love last chapter?? Did y'all hate it that bad??
> 
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Thank you dearie!  
>  **RainiDayz** : I don't know if you found it or not but your oneshot is up! (Finally) I added 3 lines of tags so hopefully I'll get more traffic but who knows? I have no idea.   
> **uurahara** : Thank you! I didn't get a chance to write more hauntedness in this chapter. Maybe next chapter?
> 
>  **Note** : If you haven't noticed already, all my oneshots were written for my 100th 150th and 200th comments.  
> Fic 1: Destiel Oneshot  
> Fic 2: Kakashi/Guy oneshot (in the You Bake Me Crazy universe)  
> Fic 3: SasuNaru oneshot (in the You Bake Me Crazy universe)  
> So read them if you'd like!
> 
> Since I'm all caught up, commenter 250 will also receive a oneshot! 
> 
> **Another Note** : Sorry you have to suffer through my shitty drawing but I figured I'd show you how the gang looks in the story right now (Boys only~!)

Boy's Selfie!  


 

Chapter Forty-Six:

Itachi thought it would take a while for everyone to get ready, but surprisingly they did well for having two girls and Sasuke in the group. It seems no one wanted to stay in their room at the hotel. That was fine.

They would spend two days at Disney and one at Universal Studios. A lot of the group really wanted to go to Harry Potter world and Itachi didn't want to be a buzzkill. (He wouldn't admit that he also wanted to go to Harry Potter world.) 

Getting to the front gate to Disney was very exciting, especially to see the look of wonder on Gaara's face. 

"Is there anyone you want to do a meet and greet with?" Itachi asked and Gaara smirked.

"Belle. And Eugene." Lee chuckled.

"I think they call him Flynn at the park." He said and Gaara frowned.

"Why? His name is Eugene Fitzherbert." Gaara said and Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"It's Gaara's cartoon crush." Lee filled him in and Gaara glared at Lee.

"I do not have a crush..." Lee just gave Itachi a look and Itachi understood. Gaara had a crush on a cartoon character. "Who do you want to meet?"

"I'm going to meet Gaston." Itachi smirked and Gaara rolled his eyes.

As they were entering the park, everyone said where they wanted to go. It seemed smarter to break up but that wasn't the purpose of the trip. Itachi had an app that told him who was where and when they'd be there so he decided step one was to see Flynn- Eugene Fitzherbert for Gaara. 

"I know it's on the other side of Fantasyland but we already reserved our ride on space mountain and it'll take an hour for that to be ready." 

They eventually found the spot where the meet and greet would be taking place. Gaara noticed the sign said Rapunzel AND Flynn Rider. He wondered why Gaston was alone for a meet and greet but not Flynn. He frowned.

"Why is it both of them?" He asked and Lee fought the urge to tease him about it.

"Because so many women were throwing their underwear at him and verbally harassing him they had to have him come with Rapunzel." Ino said and Gaara looked at her confused.

"Why do you know that?" Ino shrugged.

"I honestly can't remember learning that. I just know it."

"You have a strange collection of knowledge." Sasuke said and Ino nodded.

"Thanks." She looked over and grinned. "Oh they're coming~!" She looked so excited. If Gaara blushed, no one paid attention to it. Well, Lee might have. It was really sweet though so he didn't say anything.

When it was finally their turn they shoved Gaara over to the two.

"I-I thought it was a group photo." He said, looking nervous.

"We'll take one after. Go on." Itachi said with his camera out already. Gaara's nervousness didn't dissipate but he did walk over and look at Rapunzel and Eugene.

"Hello." He said quietly and Rapunzel smiled beautifully.

"Hi! What's your name?" She asked pleasantly.

"Gaara." His voice was small and Rapunzel giggled.

"What a sweet name! It's really nice to meet you." She handed him a flower. It was a tiger lily, it looked like the flower from the movie. He smiled at it, thankful it wasn't a rose. He was beginning to hate roses.

"Thank you." He looked at Eugene who smirked at him.

"Come on, let's take a picture." He slung his arm over Gaara and the picture Itachi got was the purest thing he'd ever seen. Rapunzel was hugging him with Eugene's arm around him and he had such a look of surprise on his face. When the picture was taken he turned to them and bowed his head awkwardly.

"Thank you." He said and the rest of the group walked up. 

Ino and Sakura stood on either side of Rapunzel and she greeted them warmly. Whoever they got to be Rapunzel did a wonderful job keeping her character alive. Eugene did a great job too. Itachi and Sai, being the tallest of the group, stood behind the two characters. Naruto stood to Eugene's left, Gaara to his right and Sasuke next to Naruto. Once the picture was taken they thanked everyone for coming and Flynn tapped Gaara on the shoulder before he walked off. Gaara turned his head and Flynn handed him a purple flag with the sun, a replica from the movie.

"Enjoy yourself, Gaara." He smiled at Gaara smiled back and quickly made his way to the group.

"Aw, your boyfriend gave you a present!" Ino teased and Gaara shoved her.

"Should I be jealous?" Itachi asked and Gaara glared at him.

"Yeah. You never gave me a flag or a flower." He said and Itachi laughed. 

Ino wound up putting the flower in her hair after she tweaked the stem a bit. They walked for a while and it was so hot outside.

"Why did we come here when it was this hot?" Ino asked and the group shrugged. 

Gaara posted the picture of him with Rapunzel and Eugene that Lee took with his phone on Instagram.

I got to meet two of my favorite Disney characters today.

He put his phone in his back pocket until Itachi stopped at a store.

"What are we doing here?" Naruto asked and Itachi looked back at him.

"I have to get something. I'll be right back." He went inside and Ino and Sakura followed him, wanting to shop too. The boys stayed outside even though they should've went inside to avoid the heat.

"You guys look like shit." Gaara commented blankly and everyone glared at him. "What?"

"Just because you didn't have a haunted room, doesn't mean we didn't." Naruto cut in with a pout. Sasuke nodded tiredly.

"You still think your room was haunted?" He asked, clearly surprised.

"We do not think." Lee interjected.

"We know." Sai finished.

"After we went back into the room, it felt like we were being watched." Naruto said quietly. "And someone drew a cross on my door."

"Why would they do that?" Sai asked and Naruto shivered.

"I said I was creeped out by them and then there it was. A cross. On my door. Written in water. Fucking creepy man. I'm glad to be out of there." Sasuke nodded mutely in agreement.

"So nothing weird happened in your room?" Lee asked and Gaara shrugged.

"I mean it was really cold no matter how hot we set the temperature but other than that, no." 

"I'm telling you, that place was fucking haunted." Naruto said with a frown. "I don't want to go back. Tell Itachi we aren't going back." He demanded and Sasuke frowned at him.

"You tell him. He didn't believe the four of us, how would we convince him?" Naruto snapped, thinking of a response.

"We'll bring Gaara with us. If Gaara tells him, he'll HAVE to believe us." Gaara raised a brow, not being a fan of being dragged into other people's rooms to tell Itachi what to do but everyone made a unanimous decision that that is what would happen.

"Fine. What happens if I don't see anything?" Gaara asked and Sasuke stared him dead in the face.

"You will."

Itachi came out of the store holding a bag and a slight smirk on his face.

"What did you buy?" Gaara asked and he nudged his head to across the way. 

"Over there is Gaston's tavern. So this means we're close to beauty and the beast. So I found..." He pulled out three sets of Mickey ears. Gaston, Belle and the Beast. Lee made a noise of delight when Itachi handed him his set. Gaara smiled and thanked Itachi when he held his. They were really girly but he liked them anyway. 

"We must take a picture!" Lee decided and took out his phone and turned on the front facing camera. Gaara walked a bit so he was in front of Lee. Lee put his arm around Gaara and pulled him in close. Itachi leaned in and did his best Gaston face. Lee grinned widely and Gaara didn't smile, he just looked up like he was surprised. "Fantastic! I am sure our fans would love this." Itachi chuckled and shook his head at the prospect of them having fans.

It was time for them to go to Space Mountain so they couldn't see if Gaston was going to have his meet and greet soon so they rushed over to Tomorrowland. Naruto was bouncing waiting for the ride. He was so excited. Lee got stuck with most people's phones since he had pockets with zippers and now his pants kept sagging so he stood in line holding up his pants. Itachi rented a locker but no one was willing to part with their phones. The locker held the bags everyone had and the Mickey Ears. Sakura and Ino also got a pair. Ino got a pair for her favorite, Ariel. And Sakura just got Minnie Mouse ears since they matched her hair.

"Come on! I'm so excited! Why is it taking so long?" Naruto groaned and Sasuke flicked his forehead.

"Hey, that's what I do to you." Itachi said with a smirk and Sasuke ignored him completely.

"Shut up, dork. We'll get there eventually. You didn't tell us who you wanted to meet anyway." Sasuke said and Naruto considered it.

"Well, you didn't tell us who YOU wanted to meet either." Naruto argued. He had a point.

"I guess Peter Pan. That was my favorite Disney movie." Sasuke admitted. 

"Huh. Makes sense. You're a total TinkerBell." Naruto grinned and Sasuke punched him in the shoulder.

"You're so annoying." Naruto just laughed gleefully.

"He's got a point." Itachi said flatly and Sasuke pouted. "I know just the thing to buy you..."

"If you get me Tinkerbell ears, I will end your life." Sasuke threatened and Itachi smirked.

"You don't have it in you. You love me too much." Before he could retort, it was time to go on the ride.

Naruto and Sasuke were able to snag the front seats right in front Itachi and Gaara. Ino and Sai sat behind Lee and Sakura.

"Gaara!" Lee announced. "I challenge you!"

"To what?" Gaara asked, sitting in front of Lee next to Itachi.

"During all these rides, they take pictures of your expressions at some point and show you at the end. I challenge you to not make an expression at all." Gaara nodded.

"Easy enough." Gaara said, even though he'd never been on a roller coaster before and didn't know what to expect.

"This ride is in the dark." Itachi informed and Gaara nodded.

"Okay." Itachi was surprised by Gaara's lack of emotion.

"Are you okay?" Gaara nodded.

"I've never been on a ride before." He said simply. "I don't know what to expect. Since it's in the dark, it won't bother me. I wouldn't know what to expect anyway."

After the seats were locked, they were off...

***

"Wow Gaara. I am impressed." Lee said while they looked at their pictures. Sure enough, Gaara sat in his seat with a bored expression and his arms were crossed. Lee looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh, Itachi's hair got loose from his ponytail and was whipping him in the face. Ino was screaming with her eyes closed and Sakura was covering her face. Naruto had the world's biggest grin and Sasuke just looked surprised. (But him and Naruto were holding hands so it was sweet.)

After that, Itachi reserved their next ride and they were off to find Peter Pan. Or so Sasuke thought.

"You suck." He said to Itachi when he stood in the meet and greet line for TinkerBell. Naruto laughed so hard he almost cried. 

"Look, you aren't moving from the line, so you must want a picture with her." Sai said with a smile and Sasuke glared at him.

"Aw, Sasuke. It isn't that bad. Maybe you just had a crush on TinkerBell growing up and you like her." Itachi smirked.

"I'm pretty sure he had a crush on Peter." Sasuke's face was hot.

"Shut up. I hope you get sunburn." 

***

At around 3 in the afternoon, Itachi decided it was time they left and went to Epcot. When they got to the car, Gaara was confused to see stuff hanging up in bags.

"In case you wanted to dress up when you met Belle." Itachi said and Gaara uncovered the first bag and there was the peasant Beaux costume. He smiled and thanked Itachi. There were four more costumes and Sakura shrieked excitedly when she saw her Enchantress costume. Lee grabbed his own costume and smiled. "You don't have to dress up if you don't want to. It may be too hot for it. I just thought if you wanted you could." 

***

Yes. The costumes were hot. Gaara got lucky that Itachi brought his peasant costume, that one was a lot airier than his other one. Lee also got his "beast" costume so he didn't have long pants, but ones that ended around his knees. It looked silly with his fancy jacket but he was smiling with his Mickey ears. He took a picture of Gaara in the peasant costume, looking away at something, Mickey ears in his hair and in the background Itachi was putting his jacket on.

Posting it to Instagram he wrote: _Dressing up like Beaux to meet Belle! [hearteyes emoji]_

He then saw how many comments his other picture had. It already had 368 likes, which was weird.

_ Ahhhh! They're in Disney!  
Please tell me Itachi is going to fight Gaston.  
OMG Itachi, please fight Gaston  
I'm on board with this train  
Look at Gaara though! [hearteyes emoji]  
Yeah, Itachi. Work that look!  
Aw Lee you look so happy! [heart emoji]  
 **NotADrugDealer** Where is Sasuke in the fatsuit???@Uchiha_Sasuke???  
 **Uchiha_Sasuke** @NotADrugDealer Naruto shut the fuck up.  
 **iNoEverything** My babes! [hearteyes emoji] Where am I in this picture??? Rude.  
 **NotADrugDealer** @Uchiha_Sasuke u thicc tho.  
 **Uchiha_Sasuke** I literally can't stand you. @NotADrugDealer _

"Thank you guys for fighting on my photo." Lee said and Sasuke shoved Naruto again.

"Aww, Sasuke. Aren't you going to wear your LeFou costume?" Sasuke glared. "Please? You look so good in it."

"I'm not wearing the damn fatsuit." Naruto whined for probably 17 minutes straight but Sasuke still didn't put on his costume.

Sad day.

***

Going through all of the countries was tiring. Naruto really wanted to see Mulan (his favorite, apparently) but when they got to China, she wasn't there. Plus on the way there, they had to stop right before France in Morocco to see Princess Jasmine for Sakura and Ino. Sai also wanted to see her, but didn't voice that too loudly. She complimented their outfits and told them they weren't dressed correctly for her, but France wasn't too far.

After their picture, they were pleased to finally be in France. There was of course a line for Belle but that was fine. A lot of the children in the line were mesmerized by the group in the costumes. Itachi was (not surprisingly) asked several times for a picture. Even by people walking by. Gaara had a feeling he'd be asked for more pictures had he worn his wig but no amount of anything would've made him out that monstrosity on his head again. When the group walked up to Belle, she seemed surprised at their attire.

"Hello, friends!" She greeted. "My, you look lovely."

"So do you." Itachi winked and Gaara rolled his eyes. Itachi had too much fun being Gaston and now he was in character again. The girl playing Belle couldn't help but laugh, making Itachi smirk.

"Okay, can I just be bossy here real quick? I'm going to take these quick. Gaara, can you get with Belle?" Gaara nodded and stood next to Belle.

"Cute clothes." They looked adorable next to each other, especially since Belle was in her peasant outfit too. 

"Okay. Next can we get Lee with them?" Lee quickly walked over and stood on Belle's other side. "Perfect. Both of you get out, Itachi get in." Itachi walked over to Belle.

"Do you mind?" He gestured and Belle laughed and shook her head. Itachi picked her up bride style and Ino laughed. The picture was cute with Belle frowning and looking away from him and Itachi doing a devilish smile.

"Beautiful. Okay. Now Gaara, Lee and Sakura." She took the picture. "Fantastic. Now everyone." She handed her phone to one of the staff to take the picture of everyone together.

"Thank you for making this entertaining." Belle said with a grin. Itachi bowed his head.

"If I can't marry my Beaux here, I'll be back for you." He said, holding Gaara's hand. Gaara blushed, rolling his eyes and Belle laughed again and waved goodbye.

"You could've been with us, Sasuke." Itachi said and Sasuke scoffed.

"You still never took a picture with Gaston." Sai noted and Itachi frowned.

"I'll find him. Eventually."

***

At the end of the night, it was time for fireworks. Itachi still hadn't found Gaston and was upset that the Disney App hadn't told him where Gaston would be all day.

Everyone settled down to watch the fireworks. It was a beautiful display and while Sasuke was too immersed in the fireworks, Itachi put ears on him. Sasuke took them off and glared.

"TinkerBell is NOT my favorite." He said but Naruto put the ears on himself and Sasuke didn't know what to do. Naruto had Mulan ears AND TinkerBell ears. 

Eventually he took his ears back and Naruto tried to hide his smile. 

***

When they got back to the hotel, they were all much too tired to even try to get Gaara to see if the room was haunted. Sasuke walked into his room, started peeling off layers of clothes and fell face first into the bed in his boxers. Naruto did the same. 

"Sasuke, what if the ghost is in here?" Naruto asked and Sasuke moved his head to look at Naruto.

"He better enjoy the view. Goodnight." And Sasuke was out.

In the room next to them, the girls took a while getting everything off, especially Sakura who had a full costume. 

"Sorry we didn't see Ariel." Sakura said after a while and Ino sighed.

"It happens. At least we saw Jasmine. That was nice." Sakura agreed and looked down at her things. There was a lot she wanted to say but unsure how to say it.

"Do you hate me?" Sakura asked randomly, and Ino didn't even bat an eyelash at the comment.

"No. Why?" She asked, wiping her makeup off in the mirror.

"Because we hated each other for so long. I just didn't know."

"Well, we did but we're about to go to college, so..." Sakura nodded.

"Do you remember what our fight was about?" Ino scoffed. "Me neither."

"We were like 7, I didn't question it, I just fought with you." Ino said simply and looked approvingly at her reflection once all the makeup was removed. She threw out the wipe and walked over to her bag and started looking for her pajamas.

"I'm sorry." Sakura said and Ino looked at her confused. "That we fought for so long. I'm sorry."

"I'm not." Ino said with a smile. "It got me my best friend."

"...Gaara? You and Gaara became friends because you didn't like me? Why?" She asked and Ino changed her pants.

"Gaara was jealous. He was in love with Lee and you were always a bitch. You'd like parade around with Lee like he was a prize or something. Poor Gaara was heartbroken." Sakura frowned and sat on her bed.

"Do you think Gaara still hates me?" She asked and Ino shook her head.

"No. I don't think he ever did, really. Just jealous of you. He's a sweet boy, he wouldn't hate anyone for long, anyway." Ino changed her shirt and got situated on her bed.

"He made me a fondant figurine at the graduation party." Ino nodded.

"I know. He spent a while on each of them. I was actually there when he was making you and Sasuke. He had his computer out and he was Facebook stalking you. It was funny, really. He's very anal. He doesn't like to admit it, but he is." Ino said with a fond smile.

"He didn't have to do that..." Sakura said softly.

"He knows that too. He just knew you'd be there and probably feel left out that you didn't have a figure on the cake. Like I said, he's sweet. Even though he looks like an axe murderer sometimes, he's a sweetie pie and I love him." Sakura got changed quickly and shut the big light off and sat in her own bed. 

"When Lee and Gaara had that falling out... was that my fault?" Sakura asked and Ino nodded.

"I mean, not directly. It had to do with you but it was really just Lee's stupidity." Sakura actually laughed at that.

"Yeah, I saw you punch him in the face." Ino smiled.

"It felt nice to do, too. What's with all these questions, anyway?"

"It's like I'm part of the group but not the whole thing and I wanted to change that. And I think most of it is you and Gaara. I'm not blaming you. None of us got along, I just wanted to fix it."

"Why did you wait until the summer everyone is going to college?" Sakura shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I didn't want any high school drama left behind. Do you think Gaara will forgive me with everything that happened with Lee?"

"Honey, I don't think Gaara gives a shit right now. He's got enough bullshit to deal with, plus he has Itachi and that man is a god." Sakura nodded in agreement.

"How did they even get together? They seem like such a random couple." Ino laughed.

"I can't remember all of it right now. I'm tired. Basically Gaara was sad, Itachi was the big brother everyone knows him as, Lee gave Gaara piano lessons for Christmas early with Itachi, ironic, I know. And then they were just always together. Then they started dating... I can't even remember. I think in January? Could be February. But yeah, they've been together ever since." Sakura frowned.

"But what about Lee?" Ino shrugged.

"I don't know. Those boys are weird. Lee is going to college 6 hours away so I doubt they're getting together anytime soon. It's fine. They need to be themselves before they get married." Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean until they get married?"

"Oh, if Gaara and Lee eventually get together I have no doubt in my mind they'll get married." Ino shut the lamp off and laid down. "Goodnight."

"Night." Sakura stared into the darkness just thinking.

***

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked after he walked out from the bathroom, brushing his teeth.

"Texting Kakashi and making sure he watered my plants." Gaara said calmly and sent the text. "Why?" Itachi shook his head and went back into the bathroom to spit and rinse his mouth. He shut the lights off and climbed into bed and pulled Gaara into his chest.

"Did you have fun today?" Gaara nodded and Itachi smiled. "I'm very glad."

"Thank you for everything Itachi." Gaara said softly and Itachi kissed him tenderly.

"You're very welcome." It sounded like the beginning of a sentence that was cut off. Gaara knew Itachi wanted to say something else but stopped himself.

"What?"

"No. Nothing. Goodnight Gaara." Itachi kissed his forehead and Gaara stared at him with a frown until Itachi could feel the attention and look at Gaara. "No, really. It's nothing. Go to sleep." Gaara's expression didn't change and Itachi sighed and sat back up. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"What? Why would you make me uncomfortable? We've been together for 7 months. What is it?"

"I love you, Gaara. That's it. I didn't want to say it too soon after the first time-" Gaara cut Itachi off with a kiss and the rest of the sentence died on his lips. It gave Gaara time to do a lot of thinking. He'd been thinking about it since Itachi said it the first time two months ago. Was it really that long ago? Gaara felt bad for leaving him hanging for so long. They broke apart and Itachi smirked at him. "You could've told me to shut up. You didn't have to kiss me." He said and kissed the top of Gaara's head. "I can take a hint. Don't worry." Gaara's frown deepened looking at Itachi. Did Itachi not understand? These were hard words to articulate correctly. There was so much that could go wrong. It wasn't like Gaara didn't feel them. They were just... hard. "Gaara are you-"

"I love you too, Itachi." Gaara said finally, he wasn't smiling, he looked like he was calculating, which honestly suited him better. Itachi knew it wasn't a lie because Gaara chose his words carefully each time. The statement winded Itachi for a second, but he smiled.

"I'm very happy to hear that." He said truthfully and held Gaara close to him. "Goodnight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before, commenter 250 will receive a oneshot! Go read the other oneshots! They're fantastic.
> 
> Next chapter should be end of vaycay and then some Lee and Gaara moments before Lee leaves :(
> 
> 1) Help me sort the characters for when they go to Harry Potter world! What are their reactions to this sorting? Are they happy or sad about it?  
> 2) Anything you'd like to see them do on vaycay?  
> 3) Have you had a ghost experience? I have! Let me know if you did! I'd love to hear it.


	47. Chapter 47

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disney, swimming, Harry Potter world, orchard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm missing a lot of my normal commenters and I'm just letting y'all know I hope you're okay! Let me know if you're alright.
> 
> I also wonder, I've had people commenting at the beginning of this story that stopped. Do y'all still read or did you leave me?
> 
> Anyway
> 
>  **Rae** : Yes, I wanted them to bury the hatchet finally. It was getting tiring having them fight. How dare you not know anything about Harry Potter. You go watch it now. I've had dreams of dead family members too. I can't really remember them. I did not get a chance to write the it's a small world ride in this chapter because I have never been on the ride myself! Tell me what it's like and I will write it in a flashback later on.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I'm glad you enjoyed it! You got it. I didn't bring them to the beach, I'm going to do that later (You meant the sea, right?) because Lee's college is near one! But I did bring them to the pool. Aw, why would they say no?  
>  **RainiDayz** : You have a habit of commenting sometimes like right before I post the next chapter and I wonder if you realize that I posted another chapter like 30 minutes later or if you find it like a day after. Anyway, my husband fought me on that one so I made a compromise (I also wanted Gaara in Hufflepuff!) They went swimming in this chapter and like I said before, you commented too late so we'll do food challenges with Gaara and Naruto when they bond. (Arby's is actually my least favorite fast food chain! Right next to Burger King and Boston Market. But I'll take them to an Arbys. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean they can't enjoy) Glad you liked the oneshot and hey, I told you to pick whatever you wanted. It doesn't bother me that it wasn't from this universe lol. (Btw just started season 13. That shit is cray)
> 
>  **Note** : So one of my favorite Tumblr Artists Jolly-squish was doing commissions for her cat so Naturally I made her draw some GaaLee. I asked for Gaara in a chef outfit and Lee in his karate outfit but I guess she got confused and made him wear his Naruto outfit which is fine. It's still cute AF! I'm in LOVE (See below)

JOLLY-SQUISH'S BEAUTIFUL ART MASTERPIECE (seriously she has the cutest friggen art style tho)  


Chapter Forty-Seven:

Lee woke up surprisingly early the next day. He only got 4 hours of sleep when he woke up. He couldn't sleep. Something just felt wrong. Sai was still asleep in his own bed and Lee decided to take a quick shower. He rinsed away all of the sweat that still clung to his body from the night before. It made him feel a lot better once he was cleaned.

He got dressed and brushed his hair and decided to leave the room to go for a walk around the hotel. It was 4 in the morning and no one seemed to be up yet, not that he could hear anyway.

The hotel was lovely and rustic. Lee didn't notice until he started looking around but it was very nice, it still gave him the creeps though.

He came around the bend of the hall and there was a sitting room, to Lee's surprise and excitement, Gaara sat in one of the chairs looking outside the window watching the horizon.

"The sun rises on the other side." Lee said and his voice startled Gaara. "I am sorry. I did not mean to scare you." Lee sat down on the chair next to Gaara.

"Sorry..." Gaara rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I couldn't sleep very well last night." 

"Something wrong?" Gaara frowned.

"Just... memories. I think. They were really washed up feeling. Like I had them from someone else's eyes. I don't know. It was a lot though and I couldn't sleep. I left the room before I could wake up Itachi... Then I saw something in the mirror but I'm too afraid to go back and look again." Lee grimaced.

"That sounds frightening. Would you like to talk about it? What you saw?" Gaara looked down at his feet.

"It was a name, I think. And it sounds familiar. I just can't place it." Lee nodded and Gaara sighed. "Shukaku. Does that mean anything to you?" Lee shook his head. "I figured I'd try."

"You said you saw that name in your mirror. How did you see it?" Gaara chuckled.

"That's where it gets weird. You know how you said this place was haunted?" Lee nodded. "I woke up from the dream a bit out of it but I heard the water running. When I went into the bathroom the bathroom sink was on hot water and it steamed up the mirror behind it and it was written on the mirror in the condensation." Lee's eyes bugged out.

"How did you not freak out!?" Lee asked and Gaara shrugged.

"I don't know. It didn't bother me, I guess. I just shut the water off and wiped off the mirror and left the room. I hope Itachi is still alive." Lee snorted out a laugh.

"Way to leave the poor guy to fend for himself." Gaara shrugged.

"He took Jiu-Jitsu, he'll be fine." Lee frowned at the knowledge, of course Itachi would know a form of martial arts. Why wouldn't he? He was literally perfect.

"How were you not frightened though? I would have screamed." Lee said and Gaara looked pensive.

"I've seen a monster up close before, Lee. A name written on steam in a mirror can't scare me." Gaara sighed. "Not like he can..." He mumbled and Lee frowned and hugged Gaara.

"I am-"

"Don’t." Lee stopped in his tracks but it didn't stop him from thinking it.

"...Would you like to go swimming?" Lee asked instead and Gaara frowned.

"I don't know how to swim." He admitted and Lee smiled.

"I will teach you." Gaara nodded slowly and Lee stood up and offered his hand to Gaara who took it. They walked back to their respective rooms and Lee squeezed Gaara's hand. "Just go grab your swimsuit and meet me in the hallway."

Lee watched Gaara disappear into the darkness of his room and quickly went into his own room and looked around in the dark. He found his bag and felt around for the familiar feel of his bathing suit. He grabbed it and grabbed a towel from the bathroom and exited the room before he could wake up Sai on accident.

Gaara came out of the room a minute later and quietly shut the door. He nodded at Lee and both of them walked down the hallways of the hotel.

It took about 6 minutes for them to reach the pool area. When they entered the locker room they were impressed to find a steam room and a sauna. Lee clapped excitedly and Gaara tilted his head to the side. Who would want to go in a really hot room when it was really hot outside?

They picked lockers right next to each other and for a second they stared at each other and blushed. They were the only two in the locker room, they were probably the only two awake right now in the whole hotel.

"There's changing rooms... if you want." Lee said awkwardly and Gaara nodded but leaned down to take his shoes off. Lee sat on the bench and did the same. He placed his shoes in his locker and grabbed his sandals from the folded clump of stuff he brought from the room. F

From his peripherals, he could see Gaara getting undressed and his heart thudded in his chest and Lee's face was getting hotter and hotter. 

"Are you okay?" Lee turned to face him, purely instinctional. Gaara was shirtless and in his underwear. Lee forgot how to breathe. "Lee? Are you alright?" Gaara asked, snapping Lee out of his daze. He quickly took a deep breath and nodded. "What happened? Do you have asthma?"

"N-no. Gaara. It is just... you." He said and Gaara looked down and raised a brow.

"You're acting like that because I don't have a shirt on?" Gaara asked and Lee's blush darkened.

Gaara pulled out his bathing suit and Lee started sweating when he saw Gaara move to take his underwear off.

"Wait!" Lee said and Gaara stared at him confused. 

"What?"

"I-I... I should not... I should not be right here next to you if you are... taking your clothes off." Lee said and stood up awkwardly. 

"Why not?" Gaara asked innocently.

"Because..." Lee swallowed hard. "I-I cannot think of you platonically. I tried. I cannot. I would feel bad gawking at you like this..." Lee's face burned with shame.

"Lee." Lee looked up and Gaara crossed his arms. "What do you jerk off to?" He asked and Lee tensed up, his face, ears and neck burning.

"Gaara..." Lee said quietly. "You know already..."

"I do. You're right. So what's the difference?" Gaara was honestly confused.

"The difference?... You are right here. And I want you. So badly." Gaara nodded.

"Well we still need to get changed." Lee grabbed his swim trunks and turned away from Gaara to finish getting changed. Gaara did the same.

When Lee was done, he turned around and stared at Gaara's back. Each time he saw it, it made him sad. What could have happened to him to get those burns and those scars? Now that Lee was close, he saw more scars under his arms too. Gaara turned around and Lee examined his torso for more blemishes. There were a few on his hips. That's it.

"Yes, Lee?" Gaara's voice startled Lee and he shook his head.

"Nothing." He didn't want Gaara to feel self-conscious. Especially after trusting Lee enough to be shirtless around him. That didn't last too long though, Gaara pulled out a shirt. "What are you doing?"

"I don't like..." He trailed off and Lee understood.

"You're beautiful, Gaara." Lee whispered and Gaara stared at him, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

They went into the pool and Gaara's heart was thumping wildly. He didn't have memories with water, he just knew it freaked him out for some reason without knowing why. Lee was kind enough to sit in the shallow children's side with him and they just talked.

After a while they went into the regular shallow end, it was about 3 ½ feet deep. It still made Gaara nervous but Lee was right beside him. Lee was explaining the process behind swimming but Gaara refused to lower himself deeper into the water. Just thinking about it set off his anxiety. 

"That's okay. We don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Lee was so earnest, it was soothing. 

"There you are." Gaara looked up and Itachi walked in, completely dressed. "I was wondering where you left to."

"I had to leave the room." Gaara said, suddenly serious. Itachi frowned and knelt down by Gaara. Gaara clung to the side of the pool like a lifeline.

"More nightmares?" Itachi asked softly and Gaara nodded. "You could always wake me up."

"I know." Itachi knew Gaara would never actually wake him up, but he tried.

"How long have you been up, Lee?" Itachi asked and Lee smiled.

"Since about 4." Itachi blinked.

"That isn't much sleep at all."

"I know. I could not sleep. How did you sleep, Itachi?"

"Okay, I suppose. The room felt strange, other than that I was fine." Lee almost wanted to say that's because the room was haunted but Itachi wouldn't believe him so he just kept his mouth closed.

"Well, it's about 6:30 now. Everyone should be up at 7:30-8. By all means, enjoy yourselves. Just try to be ready by then, okay?" They both nodded and Itachi leaned over, kissed Gaara on the head and then left. 

***

Gaara was weird all day at the park. Itachi tried to talk to him a few times but it was like it fell on deaf ears. Lee sent him several worrying glances but Gaara remained quiet. The longer he was out, the more drained he felt. He just wanted to get home.

On the plus side, Itachi finally got to meet Gaston and they got a picture. On the downside they somehow managed to get into a fight and they were removed from the park. Luckily this was later on in the day so it didn't really ruin any plans.

When they got back to the hotel that night, they arrived in time to go to the restaurant in house. They dressed up as nicely as they could and sat around the large table. Sasuke and Sai were sporting some pretty serious sunburn and Itachi scolded them about not wearing sunscreen. Everyone was amazed Gaara didn't burn and he shrugged and said he was from the desert.

Even though Gaara didn't talk, he looked around the table and couldn't help but feel lucky with everyone there with him. It was a nice feeling to have friends. He was glad he was able to experience it. He watched Naruto and Sasuke flirt when they thought no one was paying attention, he listened to Ino talk to Sakura and Sai about a multitude of things and he watched Lee and Itachi talk quietly together at such a low volume, Gaara knew they were talking about him.

"What was your nightmare about?" Itachi asked once they were back in their room. Gaara fell silent again. "You can talk to me about anything, you know that, don't you?" Gaara nodded mutely, Itachi sighed.

"It's hard. I don't know where to begin. It was like a memory but not one of mine. But everything looked so familiar but it couldn't be a memory since I don't remember it. It was just... difficult. I really don't want to talk more about it though..." Itachi respected his wishes.

***

Sakura was standing at the bathroom sink brushing her teeth and jumped back when the sink turned on by itself.

"Ino?" She yelled with a mouth full of toothpaste. Ino ran in. "I didn't turn that on." Ino stared at the sink in awe, but not surprise. There was weird shit going on here.

With a tentative hand, she reached for the stream of water. Slowly. Slowly. Right before she got to the water, it shut off. Ino stared at the sink with a look of sadness.

"What?" Sakura asked and Ino sighed.

"I'll never know if the ghost turned on the hot or cold water..."

***

"Listen here, you're a real asshole, you know that right?" Naruto announced loudly, Sasuke flinched at the sudden noise. "First you kill all the lights in our room only to turn them back on and make us look crazy, then you draw a cross on the door, now you're moving my goddamn socks, I won't stand for this anymore!" 

"Naruto. Calm down." Sasuke said.

"I am calm!" Naruto shouted and glared around the room. "I only have three pairs of matching socks and this asshole ghost hid a pair! If I wake up and they're not back, I will find your body and take it with me forever so you'll never have any peace ever again! Got it?! Thank you! Goodnight!" Naruto huffed and sat in the bed. Sasuke just stared at him. "What?"

"You better?" Naruto sighed and nodded and curled up to Sasuke's side.

"Yeah, let's go to sleep."

***

"Lee, how did you get so much salt? We were at Disney." Sai said when he watched Lee put a thick salt circle around his bed.

"Oddly enough they sell this in the lobby of the hotel." Sai nodded, made sense. "They also sell sage. Would you care to burn this?"

"Wow, what a thoughtful collection of things to sell at a hotel. I wonder what their purpose is other than this." Sai said blandly and burned the sage. "...Got any more salt?" Lee pulled out three more containers.

***

In the car the next morning, Sai decided everyone had to take a sorting quiz for Harry Potter world. The quiz he got told everyone which percentage of the houses they fit into so it was more accurate.

Gaara was first and he got sorted as 45% Ravenclaw, 45% Hufflepuff, and 10% Slytherin. This surprised him, as he always thought he'd be more Slytherin since that's where the villains were usually and he didn't think of himself as a good guy.  
Lee was surprised when the quiz sorted him a 40% Hufflepuff, 40% Slytherin and 20% Gryffindor. Everyone was surprised he was equally Slytherin as he was Hufflepuff.  
Sasuke was 65% Slytherin, 25% Ravenclaw and 10% Gryffindor.  
Naruto was 70% Slytherin and 20% Gryffindor and 10% Hufflepuff.  
Ino was 90% Slytherin and 10% Ravenclaw.  
Sakura was 80% Ravenclaw and 20% Gryffindor.  
Sai was 50% Slytherin and 50% Ravenclaw.  
Itachi was 70% Gryffindor and 30% Slytherin.

All-in-all, Sasuke was Slytherin, Naruto was Slytherin, Ino was Slytherin, Sakura was Ravenclaw, Itachi was Gryffindor and Sai, Lee and Gaara thought about which houses they wanted. 

Lee was at a loss because he'd been told Slytherins were the bad guys the entire time. Ino explained they weren't bad, they were just very ambitious and a lot of popular villains were highly ambitious. She also told Lee that he had that quality too. But in Hufflepuff, there was more to his personality than just ambition. There was hard work, dedication, loyalty, and fair play. He decided he was best fit in Hufflepuff.

Sai just decided he'd pick Ravenclaw since everyone seemed to be in Slytherin.

Gaara didn't know what to pick. Ravenclaws were usually smart, yes he had that. He had a stupid amount of knowledge for various things. He also had the same dilemma. He was a hard worker, he was dedicated and he was loyal. He wasn't very patient and didn't really care too much about fair play though. In the end, he decided he had all of the houses in his personality for a reason, so he would wear all of them with pride. He was both a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff, and that was just fine.

***

Harry Potter world was everything they wanted and more. Especially for Naruto, who apparently had the biggest crush on Harry Potter. This didn't bode well with Sasuke and it was funny to see Sasuke get jealous over a fictional character.

When Itachi turned to Gaara and asked if he had a crush on anyone, Gaara's face burned and he looked away. Ino laughed hysterically and threw him under the bus, saying that his crush was Severus Snape. If anyone would guess who Gaara's crush would've been, it would've been Draco so that was a fun fact.

They decided to get some merchandise to show proudly what their houses were. Lee had a Hufflepuff shirt and a Slytherin tie, taking Gaara's extreme thinking to heart and decided he wasn't just one house, he was both equally. Gaara did the same, wearing the same Hufflepuff shirt with a Ravenclaw tie. Ino completely decked herself out in Slytherin gear, having already known which house she was. She even had a Slytherin prefect badge. Naruto had a shirt with Harry Potter on it, much to Sasuke's chagrin, and got a Slytherin tie as well. Sasuke just put a Slytherin tie over his regular shirt like a loser and didn't get much more than that. Probably still sulking about Naruto. Sakura found a cute Ravenclaw patterned dress and also got a tie, Ino threw the Ravenclaw Prefect badge at her and she smiled and put it on her tie. Sai just got a Ravenclaw tie like Sasuke, because both of them were lame. Itachi didn't care too much about his house either and just wore a Hogwarts shirt with a Gryffindor tie.

After that, they all got wands and Itachi didn't even tease Gaara for picking Snape's wand. Ino, however, was a different story.

"Shut up, Ino. You had a crush on Hermione." Gaara finally snapped and Ino's face turned bright red. She didn't deny it, though.

"Really?" Sai asked. "You could pick Draco and you went with Hermione?"

"I like Hermione, too." Sakura piped in and Sai chuckled.

"Hey Sasuke, who's your favorite?" Naruto asked and everyone stared expectantly at Sasuke. He kept his mouth shut. He would not fall into this trap. He wasn't going to incriminate himself-"

"Sasuke likes Fred and George." Itachi said simply and Sasuke glared at him.

"Itachi!" He hissed.

"He said it reminded him of someone..." Itachi gave Naruto a look and if looks could kill, Itachi would be dead thrice over.

"Well you like Viktor Krum." Itachi nodded.

"Yes. He is not my favorite, my favorite is Hagrid." Everyone paused. "What? He's a good role model. I also like Minerva."

"If that's not a mom answer, I don't know what is." Naruto said dryly.

***

The vacation was a success, but everyone was happy to be going home. Everyone wanted to get out of the misery that was their haunted hotel. Naruto was pleased to find his socks though.

Gaara was glad to be back in his bed and just laid immobile for a while. He didn't even say anything when Itachi said he needed to talk to Kakashi and Guy. He just nodded and went to his room. He was way too exhausted. He was happy to have the memories, though. He glanced over at the photo album he'd been putting together for Lee and wondered if Lee would like it. Probably. Lee loved everything Gaara gave him. He was a very humble and thankful person.

Tomorrow, him and Lee were going to spend the day together. Itachi had to work super late the next few days to get caught up, Gaara didn't mind. By this time next week, Lee would be in college. This was the last time he got to spend with his best friend before he left.

Gaara's heart ached.

***

"Dads." Lee said quietly, walking into the living room where his fathers sat with Itachi. "I need to tell you something about the trip..."

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, after sending Itachi a questioning look but Itachi looked as concerned as him.

"It is Gaara." Lee said quietly and walked closer, careful to keep his voice down. "He was having nightmares."

"Yes, Itachi was just telling us." Lee shook his head.

"That was not everything. You know how I was texting you about the hotel being haunted?" Guy nodded at that. "Well... Gaara woke up after having nightmare and he heard the bathroom sink on so he went to shut it off and... He said there was a name written on the mirror in the condensation."

"What name?" Kakashi asked, skeptical.

"Um... Shukaku, I think." Kakashi sent a wary glance to Guy and Itachi was confused. "I just wanted you to know because he said the name sounded familiar to him but he did not know why. That is all. I am going to bed now. Goodnight. Goodnight Itachi. Thank you for everything." Lee said earnestly and Itachi nodded and attempted a smile but he was lost in thought.

Lee left and Itachi looked at Kakashi.

"Does the name mean anything to you?" He asked and Kakashi rubbed his face tiredly.

"Yes. It does. And it isn't a good thing. I'm not entirely sure if I believe a ghost wrote it on the mirror or if Gaara did it in his sleep. Shukaku is..." Kakashi turned to Guy for help.

"From what we've gathered through the tapes," Guy began slowly. "The abuse caused him to have a dissociative identity disorder. We suppose it was Gaara's body's way of protecting him from the abuse. When things got bad, his mind switched and he wasn't Gaara anymore."

"He was Shukaku." Itachi finished for him, Guy and Kakashi nodded. "...How bad would the abuse have to be for him to do that?"

"I'm not so sure we've even touched the tip of the iceberg." Kakashi admitted. "Lee told us about some scars Gaara had and we're still not sure how he got them. The only ones I've seen him get on the tape were his... burns..." Kakashi frowned and looked at the ground.

"How...?" Itachi asked and Kakashi's frown deepened and suddenly, he looked older than he was.

"I don't think you want to know."

"I won't ask anything else, just let me know this. I need to know to some extent what he went through. If only to see the magnitude of the situation myself." Kakashi didn't seem to like that answer but complied.

"From what I saw... his father would..." It took Kakashi a moment to actually speak. "His father would um... spray his back with... something... like hairspray, something flammable... and he just set him on fire." Kakashi's eyes were red lined with tears and he just covered his face and shook his head. He couldn't stop seeing that part from the tape. "Gaara... or Shukaku... didn't even scream. Then they pushed him into the pool. I don't think he could swim..." Kakashi just stood up and rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I can't talk about this anymore. I'm going to bed." Kakashi left the room.

Guy and Itachi looked stone faced at the floor and a couple minutes went by.

"I didn't know it was that bad." Itachi admitted quietly.

"I don't think he did either."

***

"Where are we going?" Gaara asked as Lee loaded him into the car. Lee was grinning.

"You will see~!" They drove for a while in a comfortable silence until 10 minutes later, Lee pulled into a farm. When Gaara got out of the car, he recognized it. He turned to Lee with a look of surprise and Lee smiled at him. "I wanted our last day to be special. Like the first one we shared." Lee offered his hand and Gaara took it and they went to the farm. Gaara eyed where they sat on their first "not-date" and ate donuts and drank cider. 

Lee was able to snag some donuts and some cold cider and sat down at the same bench they were at the first time. Gaara took the donut tenderly.

"I remember when we came here for the first time." Lee smiled. "I asked you and I was so nervous because I thought you were the most handsome guy I had ever seen and I thought you would not want to go with me, but you said yes! I could not have been more proud. And walking with you here, I was on cloud nine! It was the best day of my life." Lee smiled and turned his phone on and showed his background to Gaara. 

It was the picture from the tree.

"You still have that?" Gaara asked and Lee nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yes, it is my favorite picture of you." After they were done, Lee led them through the orchards and smiled when he found the tree they climbed the first day. "Would you care to join me?" Gaara nodded and Lee was quickly up the tree with Gaara following slowly behind him.

Once they were situated at the top of the tree, Lee just stared at Gaara. Just until the sun hit his eyes the right way and he snapped another picture. 

Gaara's hair was longer. His face was more filled out. He was less gangly looking. He was older. It was 10 months after the first picture and Lee could tell how much Gaara grew was a person. It was a beautiful thing to see.

"I was nervous too." Gaara's voice cut through the quiet orchard. "The first time we came here."

"Really? Why?" Lee was honestly surprised.

"I didn't have friends before. Here you were, practically throwing yourself at me. It was strange. And you got so nervous around me and I didn't know why. And I tried to dress nicely, I'm not sure why but I didn't have the right clothes. Then you brought me here and I thought you were kind of weird. No one was ever that happy all the time. But you were nice. It was new, having a friend. You made it easy." Lee nodded with a smile.

"I am glad for that." Gaara blushed slightly.

"I also thought you were cute." He admitted and Lee smiled so wide, Gaara thought his face would rip.

"You did?" His voice was soft, flattered. "That is very sweet. I would have never guessed."

"I took a picture of you, didn't I?" Gaara asked, showing Lee that he also still had the picture. Lee grinned.

"I just thought you were copying me so I did not feel so weird about taking one of you." Lee laughed and Gaara shook his head and leaned back against the tree.

"No. I really did think you looked perfect." He confessed quietly. 

The two stayed in the silence for a bit, just looking at the lake twinkle in the sunlight. This would be their last day together, Lee left for school tomorrow morning. The feeling of abandonment clawed at Gaara's throat. He wasn't ready to part with his best friend.

"You won't forget me, will you?" Gaara asked, it was almost too quiet to hear.

"I would never in a million years forget you, Gaara." Lee said honestly and squeezed Gaara's hand.

Gaara felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't guess on what that was. He looked at Lee from the corner of his eye and wondered if Lee felt it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter Lee will be in college. Oh man. Sad times.
> 
> 1) I haven't developed Neji's character completely. Anyone want to tell me things he's good at, things he sucks at? I have his character arc just not his actual character description.  
> 2) Anyone else you wanna see Lee go to school with?  
> 3) You may hate me for the next chapter. Care to guess why? (*hint hint* a main point of their arc in Naruto)  
> 4) Oh and I want to write a new GaaLee story (I just need a change of scenery. I'm still writing this one but this is all I ever write. And don't tell me to update the other ones because you're absolutely right and I've lost control over my life. I'm a wreck for a human. Anyway...) So which kind of AU should I do?? I want to do something a lot of people want to read so hopefully I'll get more popularity in this fandom (almost at 200k and I'm still not very popular lmao.) I've been reading AU prompts for two days and I still can't decide. (My husband yelled at me and told me I had to wait until after this story was done but I told him at this rate, this story will never fucking be done. There's always more and I am shit with ending things and idfk where this story ends.)
> 
>  **THREE MORE COMMENTS UNTIL THE WINNER OF THE NEXT ONESHOT** *Cue RainiDayz winning for the 3rd time*


	48. Chapter 48

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Shukaku.  
> Lee's first day at college.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : Don't scare me like that! At least send in a smiley face so I know you didn't die. lol. I hope you're doing well in grad school!  
>  **RainiDayz** : I laughed reading the first part of your comment. You'll find out why. Kiba and Akamaru are already planned in the story! You'll have to wait a bit, but don't worry! They'll be in college. Just not with Lee ;) (I died when I read that. You and Luna commented like 9 minutes apart so you could've done it.)  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Hi honey, I hope you're better. I'm sorry you're sick :( I hope those cats healed you faster.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Thank you!  
>  **Rae** : Yo I'm so fucking pumped to write Neji. I'm so fucking pumped you have no idea. I love Neji so much (he didn't deserve to die wtf.) When I read that part of your comment I looked at my husband and said "This bitch is in my mind." 
> 
> **NEW STORY ALERT**  
>  Since I suck at life and keeping one story going at a time, I've decided to write another story just to get out of this one for a bit. I'll probably still update this one daily or semi-daily (I will be starting school soon) but I needed a change of pace. If you're interested, the chapter SHOULD be up today, if not tomorrow. The description is going to be below. Thank you!

Chapter Forty-Eight:

That night, Kakashi and Guy left for a meeting. They didn't mention who they were going with, only they would be home in an hour or so. Lee didn't mind, that meant more alone time with Gaara!

Only, Gaara was acting strange. He'd been acting different since his nightmares last week. Each day it was a little more weird. He seemed to zone out a lot and sometimes the look in his eyes was... dark. The first time Lee noticed it, it sent a tingle of fear down his spine. Just like that, the look was gone and Gaara's normal eye color was back.

Lee had written letters to Gaara in a nice folder. He wrote a letter up until the date of the first day he should be back. He had about 60 letters written. He smiled at them and wanted to put them some place Gaara would find them but not too obvious.

He snuck into Gaara's room while Gaara was in the shower and looked around the room, trying to think of a place Gaara wouldn't normally go out of his way to look, but still he'd look at some point soon. 

Lee decided on the bottom drawer of Gaara's desk. He knelt down and gave the pine tree a pat and smiled at it. It was almost the size of Gaara at this point. He wondered when Gaara would move it outside.

Lee turned his attention back to the desk and opened the drawer. It was difficult to open but he eventually jiggled it enough the right way and it opened just fine. Right before Lee could drop the folder there, he saw it. The photo album. Lee felt a sense of dread just by looking at it. He didn't like the photo album at all. He frowned and picked it up, placing his folder down. He intended on returning the photo album back immediately but he found a gnawing sense of curiosity.

He opened it and saw the same pictures as before and he was shaking with anticipation as he neared the part of the album he hadn't seen yet.

The pictures were awful. Open wounds on Gaara's back, clearly infected, Lee could see how malnourished Gaara was. His bones were poking out. He was only 6 years old. 

There was a picture that knocked the wind out of him completely. It was a picture of Gaara in the shed. He was holding onto this filthy teddy bear as if his life depended on it. The shed was covered in filth, so was Gaara. Lee realized that Gaara's father wouldn't even take him out of the shed to use the bathroom. Gaara's hair was matted and disgusting; the thick rings around his eyes looked terrifying instead of the endearing trait Lee had seen them as now. His collarbones were visible and Lee couldn't tell but he was sure Gaara wasn't clothed. He was holding the teddy bear close to his body so Lee wasn't exactly sure. A sob got caught in his throat and he slammed the album closed, regretting even looking at it. 

When Lee looked up, he saw Gaara staring down at him. But it was strange, almost as if it wasn't Gaara at all. Lee allowed himself to feel scared.

***

Gaara stumbled to the shower, it was getting increasingly harder to breathe. Hopefully the hot steam of the shower would open his lungs some and make it possible to swallow some air. Gaara was shaking violently. His vision looked like he was watching it from underwater, everything was wavy and nothing stayed still. He fell a few times just getting undressed. He got into the shower and sat on the cold porcelain tub and let the hot water wash all over him. He tried to even his breathing but it was difficult.

The one thing he focused on was his hands. They were his own, he knew that, but suddenly they weren't. They looked like claws. Gaara quickly shook them until they were back to normal. Then his legs started to slowly morph into something demonic. Gaara closed his eyes and shook his head, rocking himself. He began mumbling that he was just seeing things and it would get better.

He quickly got out of the tub when he felt a sharp scratch up his back. When he looked in the mirror, all he saw were old scars, but they hurt as if he just got them. He could even smell the burning hair from the blotchy skin that was burned so many years ago. 

Gaara was confused all of a sudden. Burned? When was he burned? 

The memory quickly surfaced. He felt the cool sticky spray being put on his skin. There was a muffled noise, Gaara couldn't understand what it was. Then he was on fire. Gaara couldn't breathe. He felt his skin burning and he fell to the ground and shook his head, willing the thoughts away. Then he felt himself being submerged into water. It felt relieving, until he remembered he couldn't swim. The burning feeling on his back was gone but now there was a worse one gripping at his throat. 

As quickly as the memory came, it vanished. Gaara was left panting on the bathroom floor until he heaved into the toilet and fell by its side. He laid there, naked, shaking on the cool tiles. The memory flickered in his mind and just kept repeating itself in the background. 

Standing up, he got dressed in his dirty clothes, not even drying himself. He just let the clothes cling to his wet body. The feeling didn't matter to him, it was as if he couldn't feel anything at all. Anything but the burning feeling.

He walked to his room, purely from muscle memory, he opened the door, and he saw Lee on the ground. Lee was on the ground looking at the photo album. There were tears on his face and Gaara couldn't feel anything anymore. He blanked out. He wasn't standing in the room anymore. There was a voice, chilling, but somehow comforting.

You've dealt with enough pain, Gaara. Just let me take over for a while.

The tone was seductive, almost. Gaara agreed, he was tired of pain. It was too much for his body. But he couldn't help but ask who the voice was.

I'm Shukaku. Your other half. I'm here for when things get too tough. You should just relax.

Gaara couldn't help but ask where Shukaku was before. Why was he there now?

I was tucked away for a while, don't you worry, I'm back now. I won't let anyone hurt you. Not anymore.

Gaara nodded and suddenly his eyes were dark. Lee looked up at him, Shukaku smirked at him. Lee shivered.

"Hello." The grin on Gaara's face was murderous. "Fancy book ya got there. Mind if I take a peek?" Shukaku snatched it from Lee's hands and Lee quickly stood up. "Oh-ho-ho these were the good times. Here's the time I was covered in shit, here's the time my father broke all of the bones in my fingers, sumbitch still hurts when I crack em. How could I forget this? This was the time he beat my ass so bad I couldn't sit on my ass for 3 days." Shukaku was laughing, honestly laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd seen. Lee stared at him with a mixture of horror and confusion.

"G-gaara..." He said slowly and Shukaku's head snapped up and he scowled. No remnants of joyous laughter being present on his face.

"Who the fuck are you?" Lee retracted himself back a step. "Oh." It was like a light went on in his eyes. "I remember you..." Shukaku's voice purred. "You are that kid..." He took a step closer to Lee. And another. And another. Until Lee was backed up against a wall with nowhere to go. "You're the kid who broke his heart, aren't you?" The voice was soft and he rubbed Lee's face. "Let me tell you, I forget a lot of things, but I never forget anything painful. And not once has Gaara cried when he was in pain... except when you were involved." Shukaku pointed at Lee and brushed Lee's shoulders like he was primping him.

"What is going on, Gaara?" Lee asked, with more bravery than he felt.

"I'm not Gaara." Shukaku said simply. "No. Gaara is asleep." Shukaku let himself pout. These were such a variety of expressions Lee had never seen on Gaara's face before. It was macabre. Shukaku leaned in real close to Lee's face, and let his tongue lick all the way up Lee's jaw. Lee was trembling, it was nice. "I'm Shukaku." He whispered.

"S-shukaku?" Lee remembered the name when Gaara mentioned it before. "What are you going to do?"

"Just some payback." Shukaku said simply and ran his hands down Lee's arms. Lee always thought Gaara was very gentle. He loved to nurse plants and his hands created so many beautiful pastries. His arms weren't bulky, he was rather unmuscular. 

That changed entirely when he felt the hands dig into his forearm until there was a loud crack sound. Shukaku's grin stretched across Gaara's face with sadistic pleasure hearing Lee scream. Lee cradled his arm and Shukaku took a step back. Suddenly he wasn't... so strong. 

"Oh Gaara..." Shukaku tutted. "That didn't take long at all." Shukaku fainted in the middle of Gaara's floor.

***

Kakashi and Guy rushed into the house and ran up the stairs. Lee was in his bedroom holding his arm, but he wasn't crying anymore.

"Let's get you to the hospital." Lee nodded mutely. "What happened?"

"I fell." Lee said quietly and grabbed his phone and his bag.

"Where is Gaara?" They asked.

"Asleep." Kakashi walked to Gaara's door and opened it. Gaara was laying on his bed with his eyes closed. 

"He didn't hear you?" Lee shrugged.

"I guess."

"Let's go. You're in shock." They ushered him out of the house.

***

Lee's arm had a clean break. The doctors looked pleased and said that he should heal fine. The break could be mended easily, he just needed some time with a cast. Lee just nodded, and didn't say much else.

When they got home in the early hours of the morning, Gaara was still out cold.

By the time the car was packed, Gaara was still sleeping.

Lee began to get worried. He went into Gaara's bedroom and tried to shake him awake. He didn't wake up. 

"Dad! Kakashi!" Lee's voice started to get hysterical and his dads ran into the room.

"What?" Lee looked at Gaara and suddenly was crying again.

"He will not wake up." Lee gulped, wondering if he should tell Kakashi and Guy what happened. He just didn't want them being angry at Gaara. He couldn't bring himself to say anything.

Lee took a step back and Guy and Kakashi tried everything they could think of to get Gaara to wake up but he wouldn't. Guy quickly ran into the bathroom and rummaged through the drawers until he found smelling salts he had in case there was an instance they'd need them in the dojo. He broke one under Gaara's nose and Gaara's eyes snapped open.

Gaara sat up so quickly, he almost knocked out Guy with his head. He was breathing heavily and didn't even pay attention to anything Kakashi or Guy said. His vision was blurry, he couldn't think very well. There was too much going on. He needed an anchor. Lee. Lee was his anchor. Gaara turned his head to focus on Lee.

He noticed a white cast on his arm. Gaara's heart dropped. 

No. No. It wasn't a dream. Gaara jumped back on the bed, pressing himself against the wall.

"Gaara?" Gaara shook his head

"No." That made Lee's heart drop to the pit of his stomach. If it wasn't Gaara, was it Shukaku again? "L-Lee... I... I didn't..." Gaara stopped himself from talking. He came to the realization that he couldn't be around Lee. He couldn't be friends with Lee anymore. He couldn't hurt Lee again. Gaara's face full of regret and misery was covered up instantly and his expression was stone faced.

"Gaara...?" Lee walked to the bed and sat down next to him. "Gaara, I was very worried about you." Lee admitted. "Are you okay?"

Gaara shut down. He didn't say anything. He didn't even look like he realized anyone was there. When Kakashi and Guy looked at each other, they realized they needed answers. And they needed someone to evaluate Gaara.

***

"Temari. Listen, we have to talk. But first, Guy and I really need to bring Lee to school. Gaara isn't... well and I was hoping you could come be with him while we were gone. I'm... worried." Kakashi said into the phone.

"...Is he back?" Temari asked solemnly and Kakashi sighed deeply.

"I think he is. Just... please get here."

"I'm on my way."

***

"Alright, Gaara. We have to go. Temari is here." Guy said and Gaara didn't move an inch. He was still in the same spot from before. Lee walked over and kissed Gaara on the top of the head.

"I love you." He whispered, hoping to meet Gaara's eye. When he didn't, he wanted to say he wasn't going to go to college anymore. He pushed passed that and looked at his dads.

"Please. Let me know if I need to come back home." Kakashi nodded but Lee knew they wouldn't call him. Not unless it was dire.

They loaded up in the car and Lee watched the house fade away, when he couldn't see it anymore he cried.

***

"Gaara, honey. We should talk." Temari said an hour into her stay. "I know you're going through a lot but we need to talk about it."

"What?" Gaara's tone was sharp, unlike his normal one. "What do we need to discuss?"

"Shukaku." Temari's voice was quiet. "He's back. We should talk about it. What happened?"

"I don't know." Gaara's voice was clipped. "I can't remember."

"I know, honey."

"How would you know?" He hissed. Temari was amazed with how bad his mood was.

"Because this has happened before." She said calmly. "Shukaku was a big part of... your life... And he's back. We tried to get him to go away, it worked for a while. You're going to have to start going back to the doctor and taking medication."

"Why?" Gaara's face was pinched, as if in pain. "Why am I a freak?"

"Gaara..." Temari hugged him tightly. "You're not a freak, you've had a lot happen to you. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I really tried."

"Why don't I remember those pictures?" Gaara asked and Temari frowned. She didn't know he had the photo album, but those are the only pictures he could be referring to.

"Shukaku." Was her soft reply. "Something must have happened to trigger him again. When you were younger... dad would beat you... a lot... I took pictures and documented the abuse and tried so many times to get help but no one did anything because dad was... powerful." She looked at the floor in shame. "I'm so sorry, Gaara. I'm your older sister, I should've tried harder. Shukaku is a part of you that you created to deal with the pain. When he was in charge, you wouldn't remember what happened to you. You'd just wonder why you hurt, but you wouldn't remember getting hurt."

"Why... does dad hate me so much?" Temari looked at her 17 year old brother and just took in how small he was, ever since he was born 2 months early, he'd always been so small. Now wasn't any different. She pulled him to her side and cuddled him. He didn't make a move to deepen the contact nor did he move away from it.

"Dad was... When mom was pregnant with you, he wasn't happy. He didn't want another kid. He got a vasectomy and he thought that she cheated on him and got pregnant. Even if she had cheated on him, it wasn't like he was a saint. He cheated on her all of the time. She tried to ignore it but it was hard. She raised Kankuro and I on her own when dad was out working and going to his girlfriend's house. When you were born, he wasn't there. In fact, he didn't show up until a full day later. He was angry when he found out she died. He was angry at her for getting pregnant and he was angry at you for being there. He got a paternity test and you were his. No denying it. That made him angrier because he treated mom like shit while she was pregnant thinking she cheated and she didn't. So he took it out on you. Everything was his fault but he isn't a good person. He doesn't want to take the blame so he just pushes it on you. It's unfair, but it's what happened. I'm sorry."

"...What was mom like?" Gaara asked and looked up at Temari. She smiled at him and told him all the stories she could remember. It had been so long ago, after all.

***

By the time they got to the school, it was much later then they planned. Lee's pain medication was wearing off and he was given another pill when they arrived. Kakashi and Guy helped unload the car, not wanting Lee to put any more pressure than necessary on his arm. 

Lee already got his room information and key so it was just a matter of finding the correct building to get to. Once that was solved, they began unloading everything into his room, which thankfully, was on the first floor.

When Lee opened the door, he noticed that his roommate must've been there already as there were personal belongings already there. The room was nice, small, but nice. The beds were propped up high so a desk could fit under the bed which made the room more spacious. There was a large window in-between the two beds and there were two wardrobes for them to put their clothes in.

Kakashi climbed up the ladder to make the bed with the green and red bed set that Lee picked out. He wouldn't admit out loud that the reason he picked it was because it reminded him of Gaara.

Guy set up his laptop and printer on the desk and unloaded all of the small trinkets and Lee placed them around as he would normally and then Guy handed him a book. Lee furrowed his eyebrows and opened the book. It was a scrapbook. The first page there was a letter written in Gaara's perfectly neat, crisp handwriting.

_Lee,  
You did something to this extent for me, I figured I would return the favor. In this scrapbook (I'm warning you now, it's rather plain. I don't have a vast variety of stickers and patterned tapes as you've had.) will be some of my favorite pictures of us, of you, and just memories I've written down that I have no physical proof of aside from my memory.   
Before I go too far into the book, I just wanted to tell you a few things that I've wanted you to know. I would've told you in person, I just get really... awkward, I suppose. Anyway, here it goes. Sorry if it sounds stupid or embarrassing or even harsh. Again, sorry.  
When I first saw you, I thought you were strange. You dressed weird, you had a strange hairstyle, your eyebrows are big, your eyes were really wide, and you were just really nice. I didn't know what to make of it. I didn't know if I'd like you at all. That being said, you don't dress strange. In fact, I love your clothes. I love wearing them and I love seeing them on you. Your hairstyle is still strange, but I like it. I couldn't imagine you any way else. I love how soft your hair is, I love that it just naturally falls that way, most of all, I love when we first climbed into that tree and I got to see it messy and full of twigs. Your eyebrows are still big, nothing changed, but honestly, they're one of my favorite things about you. I'm uncertain why, but I just really love your eyebrows, no matter how big they are. Your eyes... Hm. How do I put this. You have more emotion and passion in your eyes than I could even hope to possess in my life. You are the kindest person I've ever met and I think I knew that the first time I actually got to look into your eyes.   
My point in writing this is to let you know that I've seen how hard you can be on yourself. You don't think you're handsome. Conventionally, I suppose, you aren't. But if you think I can look at anyone else in the world and think they're more beautiful than I see you, then you'd be wrong. You can stare at yourself in the mirror all you want and point out flaws that you think you have, but I honestly can't think of one person who I find to be more attractive than you. Don't compare yourself to other people, you aren't other people. You're Rock Lee.   
This has gotten too long. Anyway, keep being you.  
Gaara Sabaku  
(P.S. Ino tells me that you probably only want to hear that I find you to be sexually appealing. If you really want me to say that, I will, you're sexy. But there's a lot more to you than just that. And that's what I love about you.)_

"Lee are you okay?" Kakashi asked and Lee just sat in the middle of the room and cried.

"G-Gaara. He is the best!" Lee said emotionally through his tears. 

"Gaara made you a scrapbook?" Guy asked and Lee nodded and rubbed his face, trying to calm himself down. He had a lot to do in this room before Kakashi and Guy left. Then he could fully appreciate the book and everything it had.

***

The room looked fantastic, at least, Lee's side did. His roommate's side still looked depressing but whatever.

Once they were done, Guy wanted to go to dinner with them one last time. 

They drove to a local place in town and it was pretty busy considering it was move in day at the college campus. They found a nice booth off in the corner and sat down, waiting for a server.

"How are you feeling, Lee?" Kakashi asked and Lee blinked a bunch.

"Pretty high." He admitted with a giggle and rubbed his eyes again. They were still burning from crying before.

"Yeah, these pills are no joke. Take them as needed. And hide them. College kids love getting high." Guy explained, almost sounding like he was scolding Lee. Kakashi snorted and tried to stifle a laugh. Guy looked at him confused, but then the realization dawned on him and they were both laughing and Lee sat across from them completely confused.

"What happened?" Lee asked and Kakashi and Guy straightened up.

"Nothing." Kakashi said easily.

"Don't do drugs!" Guy demanded and looked at Kakashi for confirmation and Kakashi started laughing again. "Okay... Okay... At the very least, don't do BAD drugs."

"Aren't... aren't they all bad?" Lee asked and Kakashi had his face covered and he was shaking with laughter. 

"Uh, yeah. All of them. All terrible. Don't do it. Especially that weed stuff. I heard it makes people do strange things."

"Yeah, like crying because they realize there's more nipples in the world than people." Kakashi said under his breath and Guy's face turned pink and he sharply elbowed Kakashi and Kakashi began to laugh again.

"I feel like I am missing something." Lee said and his dads shook their heads vigorously.

"No. No, Lee stay ignorant. Some things you shouldn't know." Guy said quickly and Lee nodded slowly. He was much too high for this...

***

"Lee, we would like to give you something." Kakashi said at the end of dinner. They'd managed to waste 2 hours there and really should be going home. Lord knows how Gaara was doing. They hoped Temari was okay. They'd call on their way back.

"What is it?" Lee asked and Kakashi dug in his pockets and pulled out the key to his car and put it down in front of Lee. "... You're giving me the car?" Thank god the medication wore off a bit and they could have a coherent conversation with him.

"Yes, the car is yours. You need it if you're going to be up here alone." Lee's eyes teared up.

"How will you get home?" He asked in a small voice.

"We rented a car. When we get to the company where we live, Itachi is going to pick us up and bring us home. We'll be fine. We hope you like it." Guy said with a smile and Lee nodded and bit his lip trying to stop himself from crying. He did that enough today. 

That was Kakashi's car since Lee started High School. That car drove him, Naruto and Sasuke to karate. Lee drove that car when he was practicing with his permit. Lee passed his drivers exam with that car. Lee drove Gaara around with that car. The car was only 4 years old and it was his. There were so many memories of the car in his heart and he couldn't think of a car he'd want more than Kakashi's.

"Thank you so much." Lee's voice cracked and he hugged his parents tightly. "I will miss you so much." The wave of realization hit him and he just wanted to go back home. Why did he think he could do this? College was so far away. What if someone needed him?

"Don't freak out now, Lee. You're already here. College will be great for you. With your car, you can come visit us whenever you have time. You still have money in your savings account. Kakashi and I have been saving all your money from your birthday and holidays since people have given them to us. You're able to access the account now. Don't use it on frivolous things, okay?" Lee gave a stiff nod and Guy began to cry which made Lee cry harder. Kakashi bit his cheek to stop himself from crying. This is what they prepared for. They raised Lee to leave him at this exact point in his life. He hopes they did a good enough job and he was sure Lee would do well on his own.

It was just hard to let go.

They brought Lee back to the dorms and stood outside for a while just looking at each other. Guy's and Lee's tears dried and they were just sniffling at this point.

"It's time to go." Kakashi said to Guy and Guy nodded his head a little too enthusiastically. He was trying so hard to maintain a good posture for Lee. "I love you, Lee. Very much. We know you'll do great. Call us whenever you need to."

"I will. I love you guys too. And please, let me know how Gaara is doing." They nodded.

"I set up a doctor appointment up here for your arm. I'll text you the details when I get home. Please remember to go. They need to look at your arm. Here are your pills, you should be due for another one soon... Goodbye Lee. I love you." Kakashi kissed Lee's head and hugged him tight.

But it was time to let go.

***

"Hey, Temari. How is Gaara doing?" Kakashi asked as they headed to the house. Another 4 hours and 48 minutes to go.

"Hey Kakashi. He's fine. He's sleeping right now. I already called some doctors and we have appointments for him to go so hopefully they can get him on the right medication to get this taken care of again. He seems very adamant about getting treatment. He's scared..."

"I understand. We'll get him there as soon as possible. The quicker we help fix this, the better it'll be for his health." Temari stayed quiet. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah." Her voice rasped and she cleared her throat. "Yeah I'm here. I just... I'm amazed that even after all this, you're... keeping him. Most people wouldn't do that. I'm just surprised is all..."

"I would never throw him out because of a mental issue he developed from being abused. I can't think of a reason I would just throw him out at all. He's my son too." Kakashi said and Guy gripped his thigh and squeezed.

"He's _our_ son." Kakashi smiled at his husband and Guy smiled back.

"I'm just thankful for you two. Very thankful. Gaara needed positivity in his life and I'm glad he found it with you. So thank you." Temari sniffled. "I'll see you when you get here."

"See you then. Bye."

***

Lee stayed outside for a while after his fathers left. He didn't want to watch them go, but he did and it was hard. He stopped himself from crying again. He didn't want to be that person who cried a lot in college. 

When Lee was ready, he went to his dorm. Room 420 (This made his parents laugh and he honestly didn't know why) was quite far from the main door but it was a nice room. He pushed the door opened and didn't know why he was surprised to see his roommate sitting on his bed.

"Hello!" Lee said cheerfully. "I am your roommate! My name is Rock Lee! What is yours?" His roommate looked at him with such a look of distaste, but Lee was used to that expression. It was different on his roommate though. There was just something arrogant about him. Lee decided that he would try to befriend his roommate since apparently there was no better friend than one. 

The brunet finally opened his mouth to speak, with a voice completely lacking emotion he said "Hyuuga Neji."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaasss. Okay so finally I'm in college. I'm so happy to be here. There's so much drama that happens with Lee in college and it. is. life. We get to see him being rivals with his roommate and befriending Tenten and other characters... Honestly Lee may be the main character for a few chapters. We'll still check in on Gaara but he doesn't have much of an arc until later. Probably some scenes with Naruto and Sasuke in school, but not much else!
> 
> 1) Since Neji HAS to know a form of martial arts, which one should he know? I want one that's kind of like how he fights in the actual show I just don't know what it's called.  
> 2) I want Neji to have an ironic crush on someone (really anyone. Except Lee.) Who should it be? (They won't get together I just think it would be funny.)  
> 3) WHAT THE FUCK IS NEJI'S MAJOR I DIDN'T PLAN THIS (apparently all my questions are Neji related this chapter.)
> 
>  **New story summary**  
>  Rock Lee, your typical 20 year old college student. That is until a fling from about two years ago shows up with a child that has an uncanny resemblance to him. Not wanting to be a mother anymore, she leaves baby Metal in his father's care and Rock Lee is thrown into single fatherhood. Too ashamed of his previous bad choices, he’s unable to reach out to friends for help.
> 
> Fatherhood grates him down having a child who desperately misses his mother and resents him no matter what he does. Dropping out of college and taking on another job seems like the right thing to do but just wears him down even more. Sleep deprived and drained, he brings Metal to the grocery store with him and Metal wonders away only to be found by an employee.
> 
> Cue Gaara, 16 year old cashier and social reject. He doesn’t talk to much of anyone so when a 1 ½ year old Metal yanks on his apron at work, he’s surprised to have garnered his attention. Even more surprised when said child calls him “Mama”.


	49. Chapter 49

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neji, Lee and Tenten!
> 
> This is a mini-chapter to keep me updating. I'm dying. I'm so sick right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All my readers died again. I hope y'all are ok. :(
> 
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Aw why did the last chapter make you cry?   
> **Leah** : Why did everyone cry last chapter?? I'm glad you loved it!

Chapter Forty-Nine:

Through the following week, Lee tried to befriend his new roommate on several different occasions only to be met with a glare. He now only offered a hello and goodbye when his roommate was around. He was feeling dejected and alone. 

Classes were difficult to get in the grove of. There were classes at strange hours of the day and Lee couldn't figure out how to make a friend. It was really lonely in college. He wanted to go home. 

Eventually, Lee was able to (sort of) befriend a tall white-haired guy named Kimimaru. He was quiet but it was a lot better than no one. Plus, he even invited Lee to a party. Lee didn't care for parties but he figured what better place to make friends?

Lee got ready in his dorm room while Neji sat on his bed studying. He was always studying. It seemed quite lonely to be Neji sometimes. Maybe one day he would cave and talk to Lee. Then they could go to parties together.

There was still quite some time before the party started so Lee took out the scrapbook that Gaara made for him and fingered through the pages. It was lovely to see his face. Lee missed him so much it hurt.

Lee and Gaara had only spoken a few times since Lee left which wasn't the every night routine Lee was hoping for, but he took what he got. He wondered if Gaara missed him as bad as Lee missed Gaara.

Lee finished the scrapbook like he did at least once a day and stared at the last page with a frown. He wished for more pictures. He missed Gaara... Lee rubbed the back cover and pushed his eyebrows together in confusion when he felt a bump. He looked at the back cover of it and noticed a slit in the cover. How had he not seen that before? He pried the slit of the cover open more and reached in until his fingers brushed against a piece of paper. He pulled it out. In Gaara's immaculate handwriting it said:

Congratulations. You've found the secret pictures. Ino insisted I put these in.

Lee's heart thudded in his chest and he tensed up, face turning a deep red. Could that mean...? Lee reached in to grab the pictures but stopped himself. He would look at them later. When Neji wasn't in the room. The last thing he needed was Neji to see him in such a state. Lee gulped and put the book away and tried to work on his assignments until he left for the party.

When he was finally able to leave, he hadn't done a damn thing. He couldn't think of anything besides what kind of pictures Gaara left him. Lee rose up from his desk, cleared it off, shut his lamp off and said a goodbye to Neji as he left the room.

The party was at a frat house close by. Lee didn't catch the name but it was probably something with omegas and alphas or whatever. The nice breeze of the night did wonders for his mood. He really should start running again. He hadn't done it in a week. Since he broke his arm. Lee moved his arms too much for it to not hurt. His arm was getting better finally though.

When he got to the block of the frat house, he could hear how loud the music was. There were lights, people screaming, people laughing, it looked terrifying. Lee swallowed hard and continued on. 

He navigated through the crowds trying to find a place comfortable enough to do anything besides stand there awkwardly like he was planning to do. He decided he wouldn't stay very long. Maybe just long enough to see Kimimaru. He couldn't think of Kimimaru being in a place like this, but hey. 

Lee pushed through the crowds to get inside the house and once he was he was greeted by a familiar face.

"Hey!" It was Tenten. The girl he met before. "Oh man! Rock Lee, was it?" He was impressed she remembered. "Glad to see you actually came to school here! Would you like a beer?"

"No thank you. I do not drink." The last thing he needed was to get drunk in front of strangers over one beer. He wouldn't live it down.

"That's alright. I've only grabbed my first one. I'm not planning to get drunk here." She laughed. "Well, I'll see you around!" She ran off into the sea of people and Lee was alone again. 

The first half hour pretty much was the same. Lee walked around completely lost, trying to see what was the way out. Surprisingly, he ran into Neji. Neji didn't say anything to him and was lost in the people seconds later. It wasn't really fun.

Lee was trying to find the door out. He just needed to leave. It wasn't fun here, he didn't care that he didn't see Kimimaru, he had to go.

When he finally found the door that led to the foyer, he paused. He saw Tenten but she wasn't herself. She was a stumbling slurring mess and some guy was holding onto her. He was coaxing her up the stairs. Lee looked at the scene in confusion. Didn't Tenten say she wasn't going to get drunk? How does someone get that drunk in a half an hour? Lee felt a strange emotion in the pit of his stomach. He was uncomfortable.

Something was wrong. Really wrong. Lee watched Tenten be dragged up the stairs and his body froze. Why were they bringing her up there? Did they decide she needed to sleep? Lee shook his head and walked towards the door. He didn't know Tenten. Maybe that was her boyfriend. He should stop being so paranoid. Lee opened the front door and got as far as to the stairs that led to the porch before he shook his head again.

No. His parents told him to never ignore the feeling in your gut. Lee's told him that something was really wrong. He went back inside and ran up the stairs. There were so many doors. He slowly walked through the hall and peeked inside. A few times he left red faced. He peeked in another door, the last door in the hallway. There were at least 6 guys that he could see and Tenten was laid on the bed. He couldn't hear what they were saying but when one of them moved to the bed and started to pull her pants down, Lee just shoved the door opened.

"What are you doing?!" They all looked at him and started to laugh. Lee knew he didn't look intimidating, but they didn't know he could fight. Even with one hand.

"Listen, you walk away now, we pretend this never happened." One of them said and Lee looked at him repulsed.

"No I will not! What do you think you are doing?" They all looked at each other and laughed again.

"This fuckin loser, what is he, a robot or something?" Lee's face burned but he continued to glare at them. 

"If he isn't going to stay quiet, just make him quiet." The guy on the bed suggested.

And that is how Lee found himself fighting 5 guys at the same time with a broken hand. His eyes teared up when one of them hit his arm but he kept fighting. It wasn't enough. One of the guys was able to take a grab at Lee from behind and another got one punch in to Lee's face. Lee felt the blood soak his mouth. Before they could get another punch in, the door opened again.

"What is going on here?" Lee never felt so relieved to see Neji before.

"Oh nothing. Just found this kid here taking advantage of this unconscious girl." Neji looked at the bed and his eyes widened when he saw it was Tenten.

"Neji! I did not! Do not believe them!" Lee said and they punched him in the gut and he keeled over.

"We were just teaching him a lesson is all." There was a collective nod from the group.

"Huh. Strange. See, that is my roommate. I never got the vibe that he would do such a thing." Lee wanted to say it's because he wouldn't, but he just spit out blood and wanted to throw up.

"Sometimes, you don't really know someone." One of the guys offered and Neji nodded again.

"Yes... Or maybe, just maybe, the vibe I got from him was not incorrect, because you 6, well, you give me a very rapey vibe." His eyes hardened and he frowned. "Get the hell away from Tenten and my roommate and I won't have to fight you."

"I'd like to see you try." Lee used their distraction against them and was able to flip himself over and free himself from their hold. He moved over to Neji, with not much grace left in his step, and stanced himself for fighting.

"Karate?" Neji asked and Lee nodded. "Capoeira, myself." He informed and Lee nodded in appreciation.

"Nice." He complimented.

"Alright, calm down. We don't need to fight anymore."

"Oh? I was not under that impression when I walked in to you assaulting my roommate here." Neji's head nudged in Lee's direction. "Or perhaps now that there are two of us, you see your odds are significantly lower than they were before?"

"Why do they talk so weird?"

"Fuckin losers man."

"Let's just get this over with."

"I'm not paying the hospital bill."

Fighting next to Neji was probably one of the coolest things Lee felt he'd ever done. Not only was Neji quick, but light on his feet and precise. Lee was usually a much better fighter but in the situation right now, he couldn't bring his A game. He wished he didn't have a broken arm. 

Now that it was two of them, they were able to beat the frat boys easily. Neji suffered little injuries and Lee had blood all over his face and shirt. Lee walked over to the bed and picked up Tenten. It was easier for him to do it, he was a lot bigger than Neji was.

"You touch Tenten again and I will make sure you will not be able to walk out of the room when I am done." Neji said as him and Lee left the room.

Once they were out of the house, Lee realized how bad his body ached. He just wanted to get home. What were they doing with Tenten? He didn't care, he just followed Neji. 

Neji brought them to their dorm room and suddenly, Lee was thankful that they had a couch. He always thought it was useless, being how no one came over ever, but at least Tenten could sleep somewhere. He did not have the strength in him to hoist her up to the top bunk.

Neji pulled out a first aid kit while Lee gently placed Tenten down and gave her a blanket. She mumbled in her sleep and Lee sat down on his desk chair and just sighed. Neji was in front of him a minute later and started cleaning the blood off of his face. Lee didn't say anything, not wanting to break whatever spell they had to be under for his roommate to actually pay attention to him.

"Thank you." Neji said after he was done cleaning Lee.

"For what?" Lee asked and Neji threw out all the bloodied paper towels.

"For standing up to them for Tenten. She is my best friend, it would have killed me if something happened to her. You do not even know her and you helped her. So thank you. I do not understand why you did it though."

"I saw her... at the beginning of the party. She said she would not get drunk. Then I see her falling over herself not 30 minutes later. It did not seem right. She was very nice to me. I could tell something was wrong." Neji nodded. "Why did you believe me though? You do not seem to like me very much."

"Lee, you are loud, too excitable, and very... annoying, to put it nicely." Lee frowned, that wasn't nice at all. "That being said, I never thought you were someone who would take advantage of an unconscious girl. Especially since you keep talking about a Gaara in your sleep." Lee's face brightened.

"I-I do?" Neji nodded with a frown.

"It is very annoying and distracting." Lee just looked away embarrassed and Neji sighed. "Anyway, you're a good guy. They aren't. Clearly."

"I am glad that you believe in me." Neji almost said something in response but bit back his remark. He knew it would go unappreciated. "Maybe now we can be friends!"

"Lee, there's the loud I was talking about."

"Sorry..." But Neji smirked slightly.

"We'll see what happens." Lee grinned up at him only to stop when he realized it hurt. 

Suddenly, Lee's phone went off and he looked at the contact picture and his face flushed when he saw it was Gaara.

"Hello? Gaara? What has you calling so late? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Lee. I just had a weird feeling and I wanted to see if you are okay." Lee smiled warmly.

"I am good, thank you, Gaara."

"Are you sure? I just feel like something happened to you."

"Um. Yes, it did but I am better now. Thank you."

"Okay. Well, I'm here if you need me."

"I know. Thank you again, Gaara."

"Yeah, goodnight, Lee."

"Goodnight, Gaara. Sleep well." Lee hung up the phone and looked at Neji and blushed.

"Is that your boyfriend or something?"

"N-no. It is my best friend." Neji nodded slowly, not really believing it.

"Sure. If I talked that way to Tenten, no one would think we were just friends." Neji said flatly and Lee just looked away embarrassed.

"I have feelings for him but he is not available." Lee frowned, looking at his phone.

"Ah. Tough." Lee nodded his head sadly. 

"It is okay." Lee said suddenly. "I will marry him."

"You... You are really a 0-100 person, aren't you?" Lee nodded with a smile. Neji didn't know what to say to that. Tenten made a really loud snoring noise and both the boys jumped. "Well, I hope we can sleep tonight."

"I have a feeling we will sleep better with her here than the alternative." Neji couldn't help but agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally there was going to be a lot lengthier fighting in this but like I said, I am so sick right now it would've been the worst fight scene ever in the world.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to update more frequently. "Mama" has stolen the hearts of many though lol
> 
> I don't have any numbers this chapter. Just review because I'm sick and dying and I need love. K thnx bai.


	50. Chapter 50

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> idfk filler probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : Thank you for the well wishes. Still not feeling better but I'll get there maybe.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Thank you. This has been the beginning for the Neji/Lee friendship arc since I knew I was sending them to college together.  
>  **RainiDayz** : Again, wishing you well!  
>  **Rae** : Thank you. Still dying but slightly better today. (Well enough to write 20 pages between both fanfics lol) Yes, I was happy with it too.  
>  **Rachel Reed** : Thank you. Probably because Sasuke's phrase seems to be "You're at a 15 and you should be at a 2" (I miss writing Sasuke, actually. I'll have to write him more next chapter.) Yeah me too. I'll miss writing Ino a lot so there will probably be a chapter on her. What do you mean Naruto is him? I write Naruto the way I do? Haha, Ino is actually a mixture of my two best friends with a sprinkle of me, I'm glad that's you though cause Ino is great! Which friends recommended the fic? Also, do you read Mama? (My other GaaLee fic. I started it like 4 days ago or so idr) Gaara and Ino act exactly the same as they do in this fic that they do in that. They're my brOTP  
>  **Wren** : I am not a fan of the attempted assault either! But it is something that happens a lot in colleges, unfortunately. But it is why I only wrote a few lines and didn't further it. It was to prove to Neji that Lee was worth being friends with. Had Tenten been awake and gotten into a fight, she would've won. I couldn't find another angle with her without her being knocked out. Anyway, Gaara-centric chapter! enjoy!

Chapter Fifty:

The week Lee left for college, Gaara was a mess. With his mental health at an extreme low point, it didn't help the added stress of Lee leaving. Ino visited a few times but Kakashi and Guy warned her that Gaara wasn't doing well. When she saw him, she knew it was more than just Lee leaving that made him like this and she was upset that she didn't know what to do to help.

When Ino and Gaara were together, Gaara acted relatively normal. He could tell she was tiptoeing around him and it drove him crazy. She tried to baby him and he hated it so he acted okay for the time being. 

It was a lot harder with Shukaku present in the back of his mind. He could hear the demon randomly through the day making it harder to concentrate on anything. Temari made sure Gaara worked alone when he decided he wanted to work. He was usually working. Sure he heard Shukaku more when it was quiet, but at least he wasn't around anyone to hurt them.

Itachi was another problem. Gaara knew he would have to speak to him eventually but couldn't find it in him to call Itachi up. He had a feeling that Guy and Kakashi were already feeding him information considering Itachi hadn't blown up his phone at all. He sent an occasional text message saying "Thinking of you" or "hoping you're feeling okay". It was nice, but Gaara still couldn't message him. The last thing he needed was Itachi and Shukaku to be in the same room together.

Temari was worried about Gaara's dramatic pull in on himself. He rarely talked. He had a worse temper than before, most of all, he was so sad. She wanted to help him but didn't know how. He was lost and she just wanted to fix his problems for him but she couldn't.

Guy and Kakashi set up an appointment for him to see a doctor but it didn't help very much. The doctor just talked to him. He tried to do a hypnosis. Gaara couldn't remember much of that appointment. He wondered if the doctor was able to talk to Shukaku or not. Gaara didn't ask, one minute he was in the doctor's office, next he woke up in bed 6 hours later. He was a wreck and he knew it.

On top of everything else, Kakashi and Guy had been extremely secretive about something. It made Gaara feel like they were talking about him. More along the lines of talking of a way to get rid of him. He wouldn't blame them. He didn't know how to control himself anymore. Maybe they were scared of him. They should be.

He talked to Lee occasionally and those moments were some of the best in his week. He was able to dissociate himself from his everyday life and just be there talking to Lee. When they hung up the phone it was like he was shrouded in a darkness that could only be summoned from the damning loneliness he felt. He was back to where he started, only now it felt even darker. Lee was like his bit of sunshine that he could call on to bring him a small dose of happiness where he would be able to see through the smog of exhausting depression he felt. When Lee's voice was no longer heard, that light turned off and Gaara was stuck in the shadows again.

Gaara was brought back to the doctors for a second time. This time, the doctor spoke to Guy and Kakashi after about his diagnosis and the things he wanted to prescribe and try. 

Depression. Anxiety. Dissociative Personality Disorder. PTSD.

The doctor informed them that he was unsure when Gaara would get well, if he ever would. Gaara closed his eyes at that. Like Kakashi and Guy needed even more of a reason to kick him out. They didn't need that stress. They had their own. Gaara decided he would start packing his things tonight when they got home.

Being in the car with them was tough. Gaara felt so many emotions it was like he was numb. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to do something, yet he couldn't feel a thing.

When they got inside the house, Gaara went to go to his room and Kakashi stopped him.

"Gaara, can you please sit with us in the living room? We'd like to talk to you." Gaara closed his eyes again with resolve. This is when they kicked him out. He wished he was able to leave before they could do that so he didn't have to see the look of disappointment on their faces. He nodded and went into the living room.

"Where to start, Kakashi?" Guy asked and Kakashi frowned.

"There's a lot to discuss. First, Gaara, I want you to know you can talk to us. I know it's hard but we're here. You can utilize that." Guy nodded in agreement.

"Second, Gaara. I know you haven't been in our care for very long, but we love you like our own son, and nothing will change that." Guy said and Gaara didn't know how to take that. Was this an "I love you but you gotta go" kinda thing?

"We've been informed of all the diagnosis's that the doctor has given you." Here it is. "We already picked up your medication but there's more to it than that." Gaara tilted his head.

"There needs to be some changes with your everyday life in order to really help you out. We notice you started working longer and exhausting yourself isn't the right way to deal with the stressor, especially if your stressor can walk into the building at any moment."

"So, we figured we would completely change the diet in the household and we have alarms set for you to take your medications at the same time every day and we would like it if you could go to the dojo every once in a while and get some exercise in. Is that okay?" Kakashi concluded and Gaara looked really confused. "What? Do I need to clarify something?"

"You... You aren't kicking me out?" He asked and their eyes widened.

"No!" They said at the same time. Kakashi hugged him.

"No, why would we do that? Gaara we just told you we love you, why would we kick you out?" Kakashi pulled away and Guy frowned.

"I... I don't know. I guess I thought I was more trouble than I was worth. I really wouldn't blame you." Gaara said quietly and Kakashi made Gaara look him in the eyes.

"Just because dealing with an illness is difficult does not mean we're going to give up. We're going to be your number one advocate, you can come to us for anything. Just let us know. If you want to stop working at the bakery, you should do that. If you want to buy more succulents, do that. Do whatever it is that makes your self-healing process go. Not necessarily quicker, these things take time, but do things that help you. Okay?" Gaara nodded meekly.

"Okay."

"And remember, we will never kick you out. You always have a home here." Guy said sternly and Gaara nodded and the numbness faded just enough for his eyes to tear up and he hugged Guy and Kakashi.

***

Itachi showed up a few days later just to check and see how everything was. Gaara was laying in his bed staring at the ceiling when Itachi knocked on his opened door. Kakashi and Guy had informed him of the doctor's diagnosis and it was hard to take in, but it didn't mean Itachi stopped loving Gaara.

"Hey." Itachi said quietly and Gaara looked at him and slowly sat up. "You don't have to get up for me." Itachi said with a small smile and walked in the room. Gaara stood up and hugged Itachi and Itachi hugged him tightly back. Gaara inhaled and realized how much he missed that smell and how much he missed Itachi. His emotions were completely out of control and before he knew it, Itachi was wiping away tears that were running down his face. 

"I'm sorry."

"No. Don't be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for." Itachi's voice had always been calm, it just really anchored Gaara to the ground to hear it now. "I love you, Gaara. You have to know that. I will do whatever you need me to do for you to be happy."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, it's what I'm here for. I'm your boyfriend." Gaara frowned at that. Itachi was his boyfriend and he ignored him for almost two weeks. "Would you like to come over and watch a movie? I know Ino leaves in two days so I'll have you back in time to spend with her. I have to drive Sasuke to school anyway tomorrow."

"Yeah." Gaara nodded and Itachi smile at that.

"Ok. Good. Why don't you grab some things and I'll wait for you downstairs?" Gaara nodded and Itachi went to walk out of the room.

"Itachi." He paused and turned around. Gaara pulled him down and kissed him.

"I love you too."

***

It was a few days after the incident with Tenten and neither Neji nor Lee told her the real reason she was in their room. They figured they'd save her the heartache. She fussed over Lee's black eyes but he insisted his arm hurt worse and he still had pain medication if he needed it. They really hurt his nose though. 

Since then, Tenten spend quite a few afternoons in their dorm room with them. It was nice. Wherever the conversation lulled with Neji, Tenten would pick it up. They made a great group.

That night, Tenten jumped up with a smile after finishing her homework.

"There's a movie showing tonight in the auditorium. Care to join me?" She asked and Neji reluctantly agreed. She looked at Lee and Lee declined.

"No thank you. I have a lot to catch up on. It's hard writing with my arm."

"Oh. Did you need help?"

"No thank you! I appreciate your offer though." Lee said with a smile. "Please, enjoy yourself. Especially you, Neji. You study too much." Lee teased and Neji scowled.

"Alright, if you're sure. Come on Neji!" Tenten all but dragged him out. 

Lee's heart started pounding and he waited a while until he knew they were actually gone. With sweaty hands, he grabbed the scrapbook and quickly flipped to the back and reached in the hidden compartment until his fingers touched a small stack of pictures. He pulled them out slowly, his hands shaking in anticipation. He glanced up at the door again just to make sure, and pulled the pictures out all the way. 

With his hand on his broken arm, he covered his mouth to muffle a moan. These pictures Gaara took himself. He had a lot less clothes on than the pictures he was sent accidentally. Lee looked through the pictures slowly. There were about 10 of them. How did Gaara even get these angles was beyond him. 

When Lee got to the second to last picture, it was mainly Gaara's face but it was twisted with pleasure and Lee wondered how he was able to fake that expression so well. When he got to the last picture he almost dropped all of them on the floor. 

The last picture was Gaara laying down, taking a picture from the stomach down. His legs were spread out, his blankets were a mess underneath him and his cock was hard in his hand. There was no mistaking that was Gaara. Even his pubic hair was bright red. Lee had to bite his thumb in frustration. He was already hard before but Jesus, did he ache now. 

Lee couldn't keep his eyes off the picture. It was just beautiful. How was every inch of Gaara so beautiful? Lee couldn't understand. Lee looked up again to make sure Neji and Tenten weren't coming back before he yanked his pants down. He didn't know if Gaara knew to the extent that he wanted him. One thing really showed him for sure on that, he hadn't even touched himself yet and he was almost about to finish. 

"Oh Gaara..." He sighed. "What do you do to me?"

***

"Hello, Ms. Senji. It's Hatake-Maito Kakashi. I was wondering if you had a minute."

"Yes, I have time. Is this about the Gaara case?"

"Yeah, we got letters from the doctor about his diagnosis. I was wondering if you needed them for the case file."

"That would be a help. What is he diagnosed with?"

"Depression, anxiety, DID, and PTSD." On the other line, Ms. Senju sighed deeply. "It's a lot, I know.

"I'm not surprised about it. But yes, it's a lot. Unfortunately, this will help our case. Not that it really helps him or you out. We'll be one step closer to putting Rasa away."

"I'm very glad to hear that..."

"Something else?"

"Uh, it's the way Gaara is acting with his DID. He seems to be getting worse lately. Right now, thankfully, he isn't locked in his room. But the past few days have been rough. He's had at least 4 episodes since Lee left for school. I doubt he even remembers them. At the doctor's office he went off. The doctor had to call us in the room to calm him down. He was pretty angry, I've never seen him like that before. Then he was just knocked out."

"Have you done reading on DID?"

"Yeah, Guy and I have been doing reading on all of them. We just don't know how to help him beyond what we're doing. I know what sets him off but at the same time there must be other triggers. I don't know what they are but I can't get rid of them if I don't know them."

"What did the doctor say?"

"Change his daily routine and try to see if there's a pattern in the episodes."

"I see. Well there could be a lot of triggers, based on these videos. So that's entirely unhelpful on his part."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Well send me the doctor's letter and I will expand on the case."

"Thank you Ms. Senju."

"Please. Don't thank me. This is the last case I'd like to be fighting."

Kakashi could agree on that one.

***

Gaara and Itachi were bundled up on the couch for about an hour when Naruto walked in and waved at them.

"Hey. Sasuke's upstairs." Itachi said and Naruto nodded, he didn't look very happy. Gaara could empathize. He went up the stairs. "It must suck to have your boyfriend leave."

"It sucks just having your best friend leave." Itachi nodded and paused the movie. "What?"

"How are you doing? Without Lee at home, I mean. I know he was important to you." Gaara frowned.

"I miss him. I'll be okay but now it's new and I'm sad about it."

"I'm sorry, Gaara. This is the last thing you need right now. Is there anything I can do to make it better?" Gaara shook his head.

"I'm just worried about if I'm going to go to college or not right now. Where would I go? How would I get there? I don't have a car. I don't even have a permit."

"You don't? I just assumed you didn't like to drive."

"No, I never drove before." Itachi offered a smile.

"I could teach you." Something about the way Itachi would smile at him made Gaara feel inexplicably warm. 

"I would love if you could do that." Itachi pulled Gaara onto his lap and turned his phone on. "What are you doing?"

"Getting an estimate on how much it would cost to add a new teenage boy driver to my insurance." Gaara looked surprised.

"Wha- you don't have to do that."

"It's fine. Plus, if you feel that bad you could just pay me the difference. I don't expect you to though." Gaara frowned at him, he would definitely pay the difference. Itachi paid for too much for him. "We can have your driving lessons after your piano lessons."

"Itachi, I haven't paid for anymore piano lessons." Gaara stated and Itachi's smirk was practically predatorial and he kissed Gaara's neck tenderly.

"I'm sure we can work around it." He purred and Gaara flushed. "You're so cute when you get shy." Before Gaara could make a retort, Itachi pushed him to the couch and climbed over him covering him in kisses. For the first time in a while, Gaara laughed.

***

"Hey Lee!" Tenten and Neji were back a few hours later and Lee felt like he barely got any work done. He probably hadn't. It took a lot of effort to finally put the pictures away. He didn't think he'd get tired of them ever. Just thinking about them was causing an uncomfortable feeling in his pants.

"Hey." He smiled, crossed his legs on the chair and spun the chair to face them with his binder in his lap. Hopefully this would hide any proof that he was thinking of Gaara indecently. "How was the movie?"

"Boring, but it was free and college kids love free. How was homework?" Tenten closed the door behind her and sat on the couch.

"As eventful as homework could be." Neji glanced at his binder and noticed Lee didn't get much done, he smirked. "What?"

"You finished like 5 problems in 2 hours." Lee sighed.

"I am just not very good at math." It wasn't a complete lie.

"Yeah yeah. Or are you daydreaming about your boyfriend." Lee wished him and Neji never spoke. His cheeks burned and Tenten jumped up excitedly.

"You have a boyfriend?!"

"No." 

"He has a super crush though." Lee glared at him, then sighed. 

"That's so sweet! Can I see a picture of him? Is he cute?" Tenten asked excitedly and saw the grin bloom on his face. He grabbed his phone from his desk and clicked on Instagram. Sure, he had tons of pictures in his gallery but the picture he wanted to show her would take too long to get. He clicked on the picture they took at Lee's graduation. Gaara was hugging Lee's side, Lee had his arm around Gaara with his fist in the air and in his fist was his diploma. Lee was still in his cap and gown. He showed Tenten the picture with a smile. "Oh he's so cute. Wait- how do you have over 2,000 likes?"

"Um." Lee didn't know if telling them he was in a beauty and the beast play was the coolest thing he could tell her. She looked through the comments and laughed. 

"Oh my god, you have fangirls!" Neji was completely surprised and got off his bed just to look at the comments. "This is so sweet, they want you guys together. But, why?"

"No reason..." Tenten stared at him and exited out of the picture and scrolled down through his pictures more until she found it.

"Oh my god." She giggled. "You two did Beauty and the Beast together?"

"Yeah... It was our town play. It gave us some popularity since it was genderbent. Since I played the beast and he was Beaux, instead of Belle, people have said they love the prospect of us being together." Tenten noticed how it didn't sound like a happy statement.

"Why aren't you?" Lee frowned and took his phone back and clicked on Itachi's Instagram. Itachi didn't post very often so it wasn't a surprise that one of his last pictures was the one of the play. Lee clicked on it and handed it to Tenten with a frown.

"Because he's dating him."

"Is that... Gaston?" Lee nodded. "That is the most ironic thing I've ever heard." She scrolled through his other pictures to see what he looked like outside of his Gaston persona.

It was another picture with Itachi and Gaara. For the most part Itachi looked the same. His hair was down now and he had glasses. Itachi was hugging Gaara in the picture and Gaara's face was a mixture of happy and just scrunched up since Itachi was kissing his cheek. It was cute. Tenten would not admit out loud that Itachi was super hot.

"How long have they been together?"

"Um... like almost 8 months now." 

"Oh that sucks, the play was like 2 and a half months ago so you guys probably met in like March, right?" Lee shook his head.

"The play is not what made us meet. We knew each other before then. I actually did not audition, Gaara wanted to sing a duet and I sung it with him. I've known him since like 11 months ago."

"Wait, why did he sing a duet with you if he was dating someone else." Lee frowned at that. Why would Gaara only sing with Itachi?

"Beauty and the Beast was our thing. We watched both of the movies together. We would sing Tale as old as Time together a lot. It's our song. I am the one who told him what the play was and to audition. I think the only reason they cast me was because they liked us singing together." 

"Gotcha. Well my next question is how do you have so many followers if it was a town play?"

"I noticed I have been gaining more followers since they put the play on YouTube." Tenten's eyes lit up. "Please do not watch it." Lee's face was red.

"Have you seen it?" She asked and he looked at her funny.

"I have seen it a lot. I was in it." She shook her head.

"No, like have you SEEN it? Did you watch it recorded?"

"No. Why would I?" 

"Let's watch it." Lee frowned. "What?"

"It... It is silly, I just do not want you making fun of me for it. I do not think I acted very well." Tenten glanced at Neji.

"It's fine. We won't make fun of you." She said entirely looking at Neji. He put his hands up defensively.

"When did I say I wanted to watch Beauty and the Beast?" He asked and Tenten shrugged and grabbed his laptop. He frowned at her and she sat on the couch and looked it up online and laughed victoriously when she found it.

"Come on, Lee! Watch it with me!" She demanded and Lee sighed and dragged his feet over to the couch. He wouldn't admit the reason he didn't want to see it was because he didn't want to see Gaara in that situation. The last time he saw Gaara on the set of Beauty and the Beast, they kissed. Now he would have to deal with the ache that he couldn't kiss Gaara this time. Still, to placate his new friend, he sat next to her on the couch and she started the media player.

The first thing Lee noticed was how well the picture was in it. He remembered them doing a showing specifically with a camera crew with no audience but he didn't expect the quality to be so nice. He sat back on the couch and let the movie play out.

***

By the time the play was over, Neji was on the couch watching it with them. He scowled at Tenten when she smiled at him for coming over but said nothing more than that. 

Tenten turned to Lee with a smile.

"Why would you be embarrassed? You did such a good job!" Lee blushed at the praise and averted his gaze. "I see why all of those fangirls want you two together so bad. Whoa man! That kiss on stage was not a stage kiss!" She laughed and Lee looked at her confused.

"What is a stage kiss?"

"You don't know what a stage kiss is...?" Lee shook his head. "It's when you do this." She cupped Lee's face and put both of her thumbs over his lips and kissed her thumbs. She pulled her hands back and Lee looked surprised. "It looks real to the audience but you're really just kissing your fingers. But man, you went all in, didn't you?" Lee was mortified. Was he supposed to do a stage kiss? Why didn't anyone tell him.

"Didn't look like Gaara cared all that much." Neji commented dryly.

"No, it did not." Tenten winked and Lee laughed nervously, holding back the comment that this was not the first time they kissed. "So when are we going to meet your future boyfriend."

"Husband." Neji corrected. "If I do recall, Lee insisted he was marrying Gaara." Why did Neji have to do this every time...

"Oooh. So you're already head over heels?" 

"I have to go to bed now." Lee stood up and took two steps to his bed and climbed up and laid down.

"Aw Lee! We're teasing you because we like you!" Tenten said with a smile. "Don't be like that."

"I am embarrassed, I am going to bed."

"Lee! I'm sorry. You're adorable. So is Gaara. You'll make great husbands, I'm sure." Now Lee knew how exasperating it was to have a friend like Ino. How did Gaara do it? He pulled out his phone to see if Gaara messaged him at all. He didn't. Lee sent him a text for the first time in days.

***

"Itachi." Gaara grumbled when Itachi was pulling up his shirt. "We're in the living room." Itachi pulled away and gave Gaara a sly smile.

"So?" Gaara's phone went off and he grabbed it. "You're checking your phone now?"

"It might be important. Give me a second." Gaara said and opened his messages.

_Thank you, the pictures helped a lot, three times, actually. Today._

Gaara saw it was from Lee and put his phone back down. He had no idea what it meant. Itachi kissed him again and Gaara kissed back but he wasn't paying attention. He was too busy lost in thought. Then all of a sudden it hit him. Those pictures. Three times? Today? Jesus, Lee.

"Are you actually getting hard right now?" Itachi whispered in Gaara's ear and Gaara's face burned. Itachi took that as an entirely different meaning. "You don't have to be embarrassed."

"Can we not do this here? Please?" Itachi nodded and picked Gaara up, Gaara wrapped his legs around Itachi and Itachi handed Gaara his phone and shut the T.V off and brought Gaara upstairs to his bedroom. 

When they got to the room, Gaara had thought about Lee's text a lot more, just running through his mind. He couldn't believe how hard he got just by reading two sentences. Now he was stuck in a very awkward situation, he just didn't know how to handle it. Itachi's lips recaptured Gaara's and for a moment, Gaara was just lost in that. The way Itachi's body felt against his own. It was kind of hard to focus. Gaara flinched and pushed Itachi off of him and held his head. His head was so fuzzy.

"Gaara? Are you okay?" Itachi sounded like he was talking through several walls, completely unclear. Then Gaara couldn't hear anything at all. He moved his hands from his head and looked at Itachi with a smirk.

"You aren't Gaara anymore."

"That's no reason to stop, is it?" Shukaku purred and pushed Itachi to the bed and Itachi grunted at the sudden weight. Shukaku leaned in with a devious smile and kissed Itachi's cheek. Itachi winced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly stopped because I didn't know where to go from there. I need some input on that.
> 
> 1) What do you think should happen with Itachi and Shukaku?  
> 2) What should Lee and Neji bond over?


	51. Chapter 51

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The break up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : u right tho u right. We've traded one angst for another lol  
>  **RainiDayz** : This chapter ended up like this because I didn't believe that Shukaku would hurt Itachi. Honestly, Itachi has done nothing but good for Gaara so he wouldn't physically hurt him. Mentally though...

Chapter Fifty-One:

"Stop." Itachi said firmly and Shukaku frowned but didn't stop himself from grinding against Itachi.

"Why would we do that? You and I both know you want this body." Shukaku chuckled and Itachi bit back a moan at the feeling of their erections rubbing together.

"I want Gaara. Not his body." Itachi said through clenched teeth. Shukaku knew that he was still turned on though.

"Oh I can pretend to be Gaara, if you'd like." Shukaku's smile disappeared and he put on a stern expression. He couldn't keep it and laughed. "Sorry, he's just so serious and boring!"

"No he isn't." Itachi argued and Shukaku bucked his hips again just to shut Itachi up. Itachi let out a shuttering breath and Shukaku grinned at the reaction.

"Yes, he is. You don't have to lie. But just forget about it. I'll make you feel great." Shukaku grasped Itachi's cock through his pants and rubbed it. Itachi bucked his hips unintentionally and Shukaku couldn't wipe the smirk off of his face. "I know you want to... Just let me do this. Let's just have fun. Gaara doesn't have to know. He won't remember a thing."

"You think that makes it any better?" Itachi scowled and pushed Shukaku off of him. "I'm not having sex with you. You aren't Gaara."

"Well, if that's the game you want to play, I can just go find someone else to fuck. I'm not Gaara, after all. It isn't like it matters to you." Itachi growled and Shukaku smirked. "There's the jealousy I'm looking for." 

"It isn't jealousy. It's anger. Anger that you would use his body for your own needs. You know he wouldn't like that." Shukaku frowned. "What?"

"Nothing, just really hoped to see some jealousy in you, is all. I remember Gaara thinking something along the lines of you not getting jealous of anything and I have to wonder if that's true..." The way Shukaku said it was not very becoming.

"Are you insinuating something?" Itachi asked darkly and Shukaku grinned again, with all his teeth.

"No, of course not. I'm telling you that you should be jealous."

"Why would I be jealous? Who would I be jealous of?" Shukaku climbed back on top of Itachi but made no sexual advance.

"I think you know exactly who you should be jealous of." Shukaku said as he ran fingers up and down Itachi's chest.

"...Lee?" Itachi guessed almost meekly. Shukaku simpered at him. "Why would I be jealous of him?"

"There's SO many reasons, should I only pick one?" That made Itachi frown. "I'll just tell you my favorite. Every single one, I am not exaggerating, every. Single. One. Of Gaara's erections, have been caused by Lee."

"What are you talking about?" Watching the confusion on Itachi's face was wonderful.

"I mean exactly what I said. Would you like to know exactly what he thinks about? I can tell you." Itachi's lips pressed together firmly.

"No. Stop trying to hurt him by making me angry at him."

"You aren't fun at all. I'm going to tell you anyway. Don't you remember those provocative pictures Gaara took for you? I'm going with yes. Well, silly Ino. Since you're in Gaara's phone as lover, it's right next to Lee. Guess who was sent those pictures first?" Itachi's expression didn't change but there was a distinct change in his heart rate. "Yes, that's right. So one night, Gaara came home and he hears Lee say his name so he walks into Lee's room and there Lee is, getting naughty with those pictures. And that, is the first time that Gaara got aroused. So just know, whenever Gaara gets hard for you, he's just remembering Lee jerking off." Itachi's face was red, but Shukaku didn't know if it was embarrassment or anger. His facial expression was still calm. "Don't believe me? I'm sure they must've talked about something naughty over text. You can just check..." Shukaku tempted and both their eyes landed on Gaara's phone.

"Why are you doing this?" Itachi asked quietly. "Why does it matter to you?"

"Because, Itachi. That's what I do. I hurt people who hurt Gaara, and I make a mess of things. So why don't you go on and look through Gaara's phone?" Itachi briefly looked at the phone but shook his head.

"No. I won't break his trust by going through his phone." Itachi said firmly, even though Shukaku saw the look of temptation in his eyes. He would break Itachi, he knew it. Shukaku reached for the phone and turned it on. "Stop." He clicked over the messages and his grin grew.

"When did Gaara start getting hard? About 10 minutes ago? That's so funny. He has a text from Lee from 11 minutes ago. Would you like to know what it says?" Itachi braced himself, he knew Shukaku wasn't going to not tell him. And he knew since Shukaku wanted him to know, it had to be bad. "Thank you, the pictures helped a lot, three times actually. Today." Shukaku chuckled. "Well I wonder what he could be referring to here."

"Stop it!" Itachi yelled, his calm demeanor now gone. "Please! Just stop!"

"Oh. Poor Itachi." Shukaku rubbed his face. "You've been cheated on before, haven't you? Didn't think your little Gaara had it in him?" Seeing the broken look on Itachi's face was enough. "That's what happens when you don't give me what I want. Since I can't have you, neither can he." Shukaku scowled and almost instantly passed out.

Itachi sat on the bed, trying to even out his breathing. He looked at Gaara lay there asleep and it hurt. His heart ached. He never wanted to feel this again. The sharp stabs of rejection, betrayal, humiliation. He did it to himself. He let Gaara and Lee talk. He just had more faith in them than he should've. He'd known Lee since Lee was so young. Why would Lee do that to him? He didn't expect it.

Itachi continued to stare at Gaara's phone. His trust was already gone, what was the point in holding back anymore? He grabbed it and unlocked it, scrolling as far back as the phone had saved and scanning through their text messages. The earliest one he saw was from June. Gaara didn't delete his texts very much.

_**Do not be nervous! You will be a great Beaux! I am sure of it! :D**  
Thanks Lee.  
 **:( would you like to talk about it?**  
There isn't anything to talk about. I'm just tired. Itachi's been weird. Everyone is graduating. I just don't know what the future has anymore.  
 **You have Naruto! He will be staying and going to Community college. And you have my parents and you know you won't lose Itachi! He adores you! <3**  
I know I do. It's just tough dealing with it. Stop texting me in class. I'll talk to you when we get to the theatre.  
 **Okay. <3**  
...  
 **Where did you go? :(**  
Sorry. I had to pee.  
 **You had to pee and you have been gone for hours?**  
Ran into Itachi so I went back to sleep with him. Is everyone up?  
 **No. Just me.**  
...  
 **Come downstairs! Kakashi and Guy are fighting!**  
Is everything okay?!  
 **Oh. Sorry! Yes, they spar sometimes. :D It is fun to watch.**  
JFC don't scare me like that. Be right down.  
...  
 **How are you feeling? You look sad. :(**  
We're in the car together, why aren't you just verbally speaking to me?  
 **Because you're more likely to be honest this way.**  
I'm fine, Lee. Really.  
 **You can talk to me, you know.**  
I know, Lee. Thank you.  
...  
Where did you go?  
 **We're over near the small world ride. Did you want to go on it?? :)**  
Um. Sure?  
 **I will save you a spot! <3**  
...  
 **Seriously, Gaara you look terrible. Is this because of the nightmare? Would you like me to feign an illness so we can go home early? Will you be okay?**  
Lee. I'll be okay. I promise. It's just a lot to think about.  
 **Shukaku? :(**  
Yeah. The name is familiar, I just wish I knew why. How have you been in your haunted room?  
 **You should really sleep in mine and Sai's room if you think you are so brave. I put a salt circle around my bed last night. Sai burned sage.**  
Lol. Of course you did.  
 **I am completely serious.**  
... I honestly don't know what to say about that.  
 **I see your smile~! :D**  
You're a dork.  
 **Thank you, Sasuke.**  
...  
 **Are you almost ready? I am too excited! <3**  
Yeah. I'll be down in a second. I'm on the phone with Itachi.  
 **Okay. I will wait.**  
...  
Thank you for today. It was great. It was nice going to the orchard again.  
 **I know! Thank you for the memories, Gaara! <3  
*Picture Message***  
You really have them both side by side?  
 **It is a wonderful transition! You are in the same tree almost a year later. You can see how much you've grown!**  
You're strange, Lee.  
 **I have been called worse :D**  
That wasn't an insult, I promise. One of my favorite things about you.  
 **I have many things I like about you, too! <3**  
...  
 **Gaara.  
Gaara, please do not ignore me.  
It was not your fault.  
I do not hold it against you.  
Please, Gaara.  
Shukaku is not you. I do not blame you for his actions.**  
Lee, I broke your arm. I really don't think we should be talking anymore. I could hurt you again.  
 **Gaara! It is not your fault! My arm will heal and I will be stronger than ever! Please do not do this. You know I love you. I never want us to stop talking.  
Please Gaara, answer me.  
Gaara?  
Gaara... please.  
I will drive down tonight if you do not answer me!**  
Lee. Stop. I can't.  
 **You cannot what?? Hurt me? I know you cannot, because you did not! Shukaku did! If you think I blame you even a little bit for what happened, you do not know me as well as I thought you did.**  
Stop! Stop trying to make it better! If I wasn't such a fucking freak, I wouldn't be this way! He's going to ruin my life! He's already started trying to isolate me.  
 **Exactly! Do not give him what he wants! Gaara, so many people love you and they will not just brush you off! You will have to hurt me a lot worse than break my arm for me to not care about you anymore. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you see it that way.**  
I just can't help but think what else he'll do... He can hurt Kakashi, Guy, Ino, Itachi...   
**Kakashi and Guy will not allow this. Ino scares me more than Shukaku, honestly. And Itachi adores you. I told you this already. I doubt anything would phase him. He can handle Shukaku. We all can.**_

Itachi tossed the phone to the other side of the bed and held his head, feeling a headache come on. 

Shukaku got to him. He knew exactly what to say, how to say it and what to do to get Itachi to question himself and Gaara. Even Lee had more faith in him than that! He was so filled with shame. He looked at Gaara's unconscious figure and couldn't think of a single way to make it up to him. 

***

When Gaara woke up, it was 5 in the morning and Itachi was awake and on his laptop typing. He could see the screen in the reflection of his glasses and just watched him for a bit. His hair was off to one shoulder and he was pursing his lips. He looked annoyed. 

"Hey." Gaara's voice croaked and Itachi jumped slightly, looking startled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Itachi took in a deep breath and put his computer to the side. "We need to talk about something, Gaara." He didn't look very happy. Gaara just realized that he was waking up. Last he remembered he was making out with Itachi.

The realization sunk in and he jerked himself up off the bed and examined Itachi for any injuries.

"Gaara. He didn't hurt me." Itachi said quietly and Gaara was thankful, but frowned at Itachi's tone. "He did say some things and I just wanted to talk to you about them." Gaara nodded.

"What happened with you two? Before you talked?" Gaara asked, he didn't think anything crazy happened, his body didn't feel sore anywhere.

"He tried to get me to have sex with him but I told him no." Gaara looked slightly confused.

"Why didn't you? Wouldn't it have been easier than waiting for me to be ready?" Itachi stared at Gaara surprised.

"No. Well... logically speaking, yes. But I didn't want to have sex with just your body, Gaara. I wanted to have sex with you."

"...Wanted?" Itachi took off his glasses with a sigh. "What did he say…?"

"The only reason you get turned on is because you're thinking of Lee." Gaara's body felt like ice. "And he read me a text message Lee sent you from before. He also mentioned that Lee was accidentally sent some pictures..." Gaara was frozen, he felt like he couldn't breathe. "Gaara, is this true?" Gaara didn't know why he reacted with anger, but it was the first reaction he could get.

"Are you serious, Itachi? Take me home." Gaara rose from the bed and put his shoes on.

"Gaara, what are you doing? I'm just asking you a question." Itachi said and got off the bed too. Gaara glared at him even though he was feeling more anger at himself than anything. He hadn't fully realized what he was doing would hurt Itachi. He did to an extent but it was like he didn't really care. And now that he was caught, he was angry that he even did it in the first place.

"Just asking me a question? About something Shukaku said? Seriously? As if he hasn't done so much worse than that to other people? You're getting upset because he said Lee excites me, when he literally broke. Lee's. Arm. So pardon me for being a little angry that you're even questioning things he said at this point." Gaara grabbed his phone and turned it on. He looked up with a frown. "You went through my messages didn't you?" Itachi had the grace to look ashamed. "And what did you find, Itachi? What malicious thing did Lee and I talk about? He thanked me for pictures. What pictures? I made him a goddamn scrapbook. Maybe he got homesick and looked through them. I don't know. But thank you for throwing your faith away in me." Gaara picked up his phone and called Ino.

"Gaara what are you doing?"

"Leave me alone."

"Gaara-"

"Gaara? It's 5 in the morning. Are you okay?" Ino asked sleepily.

"Please pick me up from Itachi's house." He said as he walked out of the room.

"Gaara! Come back." Itachi pleaded.

"Is everything ok?"

"No. Please hurry."

"Okay honey I'll be right there." Ino hung up and Gaara stormed down the stairs. His heart was beating so fast and hard he couldn't think straight. Where were these lies coming from? How was he saying them so easily with so much conviction? 

He saw himself in a mirror as he walked down the stairs and scowled. Right. He was an actor. Never in his life has he felt more slimy than he had then. 

"Gaara." Itachi was following him down the stairs. "Gaara, I'm sorry." Itachi grabbed Gaara's shoulders and Gaara threw his hand off.

"Don't touch me, Itachi." He hissed and Itachi's hand recoiled. He looked defeated.

"What does this mean, Gaara?" He asked quietly.

"I'm not going to be with someone who even questions what Shukaku says." Gaara said hollowly. He looked completely numbed over which was different than how he looked a few seconds ago. 

"Gaara." Itachi whispered. "Can we please just talk things through? Please don't make a rushed decision because you're angry at me."

"It isn't a rushed decision because I'm angry at you. That would be if you did something that annoyed me. You didn't annoy me. You know what? You always said you weren't jealous, and he was able to get under your skin in how long? The Itachi I met just 9 months ago insisted he didn't get jealous. Even when Lee and I practically made out on stage, nothing from you. Just smiles. Shukaku says I find Lee attractive and that's where you draw the line? You knew I thought Lee was attractive when we started dating. It didn't bother you before. Still haven't had sex with him. Still haven't touched him like I did you. He hasn't seen me as you have. He hasn't touched me. Yet we're still here. At this point. And I'm not dealing with it."

"Gaara. I just wanted to ask you why he would say those things. Please, don't go." Gaara didn't look back at Itachi. He couldn't. He was disgusted in himself and he needed to get out. He ran to the front door and onto the porch, hoping the cool air would help him think straight. He kept feeling himself losing a grip on reality. It was hard to process what was going on around him. Shukaku was laughing in his head and it kept echoing.

He felt Itachi hug him from behind. It grounded him. Things were clear. Gaara was able to see again. Shukaku quieted down. Itachi was talking but his voice was muffled. Gaara stumbled a bit and Itachi held him up. Finally, Gaara was able to stand up straight and when he looked at Itachi, his eyes were red. He looked upset. That wasn't something Gaara wanted to see. He didn't want Itachi to be upset.

"I just want you to be, happy, Gaara." That was the first thing Itachi said that Gaara could hear. "I always wish the best for you. I love you." Itachi hugged Gaara tightly and Gaara heard the sound of Ino's car. He turned away from Itachi and when he saw Ino, he broke away the contact. "Gaara!" 

Gaara got into Ino's car and she looked at Itachi confused. He was a wreck. When she saw Gaara, she saw he was too. She gave one last glance to Itachi and drove off. There was no time to pick sides. It didn't matter, anyway. She'd always pick Gaara's.

She drove them to her house and parked the car in the driveway. She glanced over at Gaara and his face looked pale, more so than normal.

"You okay, honey?" He frowned and shook his head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not right now." He said meekly and she nodded.

"Come on. Let's take a nap." He nodded and she brought him to her room and they passed out on her bed.

***

Lee woke up relatively early in the morning with a call from Itachi. It was 5:30, Lee usually got up at 6, even on weekends so this was only slightly early for him. Still, strange that Itachi was calling.

"Itachi? Is everything okay?"

"Yes." It didn't sound like it was. "Well... not exactly. Can you do me a favor?"

"Uh, yeah. What do you need?"

"Gaara and I... got into a fight this morning. At some point, can you please check on him? I don't think he'd want to hear from me. He'll likely answer if you call..."

"Itachi, I am very sorry. I am sure you can work things out." Lee said automatically, but sounded remorseful enough. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"No. No, I don't. I just want to make sure he's okay. Ino picked him up."

"Well, if Ino picked him up, why did you not call her?"

"Because she's likely mad at me so wouldn't answer the phone. She gets spiteful, you should know."

"Yes, especially when it comes to Gaara. Okay, Itachi. I am sorry. I will let you know what Gaara says."

"Thank you... and Lee?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Just... Everything."

***

Gaara woke up at 9 when Ino shifted in the bed next to him. He opened his eyes and rubbed them. She was still in her pajamas which made Gaara realize she jumped out of bed to come pick him up without getting changed. Her hair was down so naturally it was all over the place since she had the longest hair ever. Gaara realized he was still wearing Itachi's clothes and sighed.

"You ready to talk yet, boo?" She asked and Gaara shrugged. He picked up his phone and noticed he missed a call from Lee early this morning. Gaara frowned, Itachi must've called him. He wondered why. "So what happened?"

"I'm an asshole." Gaara said easily. "I am a manipulative asshole."

"Well, at least you can admit your wrongdoings. How are you manipulative?" Gaara sighed.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning for this to make sense..."

He didn't want to tell Ino about any of it. He wanted her to be ignorant of how he grew up. Of why he moved in with Kakashi and Guy. Of why he had so many scars and burns on his body. But he told her. He didn't go into detail, she didn't need to know. He didn't want her to be afraid of him, but he told her about everything he was diagnosed with. Honestly, he didn't expect her to let him stay in her room when he was done. He didn't look at her, he looked down at his legs which were crossed. He fiddled with his fingers. He told her about Shukaku. He told her that Shukaku broke Lee's arm. Shukaku told Itachi all the things that he did, and how Gaara avoided telling the truth, and manipulated Itachi to stop Itachi from realizing that Shukaku wasn't lying. 

Gaara realized that yeah, Lee was a shitty person back in November of last year, but Gaara himself was a shitty person now. He broke up with his loving boyfriend who only wanted what was best for him and made him feel like it was his own fault. He lost the guy he was in love with to college. He went absolutely crazy and he wouldn't be surprised if Guy and Kakashi kicked him out and now he was admitting everything wrong about himself to Ino and he wasn't sure if she would even want to be his friend when he was done. 

He stopped talking and for a while, they were quiet. He heard her sniffle and looked up at her face. She was crying and Gaara didn't understand why. She hugged him tightly, not letting him free as she tried to even out her breathing and stop herself from crying.

"Why are you crying?" He asked and she laughed, despite her tears.

"Because I'm sad." She pulled him away from her and looked at him. "You're my best friend and there's so much I didn't know about you. You're super brave telling me all of that. I wouldn't be able to. I'm impressed you could tell me that you manipulated Itachi. That's hardcore." She laughed and wiped her face off. "Sorry, tears are gross. I'm emotional. I'm getting my period soon."

"Thank you, Ino." She laughed again and rubbed her eyes.

"Just wanted you to know we're on the same cycle, is all."

"So you..." Gaara trailed off and bit his lip. "You don't want to stop being friends with me?"

"Oh honey, no. Why do you think everyone is out to leave you? No, I'm leaving my happy ass right the fuck here next to you. You're my best friend. I'm just sad I didn't know about it sooner. I wonder how come I've never met Shukaku though." Gaara paled at the thought.

"You almost did. You really don't want to. Hopefully the medication they put me on will help. I can't live like this anymore. I can't do it. I don't even know what sets him off anymore. I just remember doing one thing then I wake up hours later somewhere else." Ino nodded slowly.

"So are you and Itachi really done?" Gaara shrugged. "Do you want to be done?"

"...No. I don't think I do. I've been so unfair to him, though, that I should. I shouldn't hurt him again. Lee went to college to better himself. I should be doing the same here." Ino nodded.

"See what happens. School starts for you next week so you'll have that to engage in. Plus you have the bakery. And you said Kakashi and Guy wanted you at the dojo. You can join drama club, there's so many things to keep your mind occupied right now. You can better yourself. Or you can keep being a sneaky bitch as long as you tell me them ho stories." Gaara rolled his eyes at her.

"I have no ho stories." She grinned.

"Looks like you have to keep being a sneaky bitch then, I need my ho stories." He smiled at her and she smiled back. "I love you, Gaara."

"I love you too, pain in my ass." She giggled. "Okay. I have to take a shower, then we hang out since I leave tomorrow. Okay?"

"Alright. Lee called me anyway so I have to talk to him." Ino winked at Gaara and Gaara sighed. "Must you do that with everything?"

"You know it, boo. Be right back, honey." She left the room and Gaara stared at his phone for a few minutes then clicked on Lee's name and called him. He brought the phone to his ear and heard the ringing. Lee picked up on the third ring.

"Gaara! How are you?" Lee was way too loud. All the time.

"I'm okay. How are you? Why did you call?" Lee stayed quiet. "Itachi?"

"Yes, but he just asked me to see if you were okay! Nothing else. And then I was worried because you two fought and I just wanted to make sure you were okay because I wanted to know, not because he asked me to ask you."

"Right. I'm fine. We fought, we broke up, Ino picked me up. I just woke up." Lee stayed quiet. "Are you there?"

"Y-yes! I am just... concerned. Things seemed to be going so well, what happened?"

"Shukaku happened." On the other end, Lee frowned.

"I am sorry to hear that. What did he do?"

"He told Itachi things I didn't want Itachi knowing. That's all I'll say."

"Do you need me to come down this weekend?"

"No, Lee. I'll be fine. I don't know what's going on right now, but I know I'll be okay. Good thing about depression is you don't feel much, so I have that to look forward to."

"Gaara..."

"Really, Lee. I'm fine."

"I love you, Gaara. Please feel better."

"I know, Lee. I will." Maybe. "I'm going to go. I really just... I don't want to be on the phone right now.

"I understand. Please call me. I will be there if you need anything, I mean it, Gaara."

"Thank you, Lee. I just... I need to better myself for you too. I just didn't realize it until now."

"You don't have to better yourself, you're perfect." If only Lee knew how much it wasn't true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Mama grows with popularity, this story dies. I hope I still have my readers. This story still has a lot to be told and I'm trying to get to 200k before the 24th! (which I'm totally going to do. That would mean I wrote 200k words in 5 months. For fanfiction. This is crazy. The story is over 400 pages at this point lol. 
> 
> Anyway, This will not be the last of Itachi and Gaara *Garachi? Itaara? idfk) but it is the beginning of a different Gaara. (Sorry Lee!)
> 
>  **On a separate note...**  
>  I'm working on a book. An actual book. And I need help developing characters. Since I'm only one person I only have my own experiences, my own quirks and I thought it would be cool to have people develop characters for me based on them so I could play with it a bit more. If you're interested, they're based on Zodiac signs (Gemini is taken cause thats MEE) but yeah, if you're interested, leave your email or a way I can message you and I'll hit you up with the deets and show you what your zodiac looks like so I can finally start writing this book (my brainchild for like 6 months) Thank you. Love you bye.


	52. Chapter 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **PLEASE READ** :  
> Okay. Well, I have reached a certain point in this story. It's been brought to my attention that Lee and Gaara are taking too long to get together, which was my plan, I wanted them to go through life before they got together. However, if this isn't the story you want to read, and you want them to get together now, I have made it possible. This is the point in the story where Gaara is supposed to get back together with Itachi. They do this annoying make-up break-up dance for a while. Gaara has so many things he's supposed to do with Itachi but again. If you don't want that story anymore, fuck it. I'll just write whatever. If not, Gaara and Lee get together in Gaara's first year of college. Pick what you'd like. 
> 
> **For the people wanting to help with my book**  
>  I don't like replying to comments on my story usually because they count my comment in the amount of comments the story has. I don't want people to think my story has a lot of comments and like 500 of them are from me. So anyway, if you really would like to help, email me PDoria94@aim.com, hit me up on tumblr, instagram, whatever. My name is Smoresies. 
> 
> Sorry, I know I usually individually respond to comments here but I'm just... I'm not right right now.

Chapter Fifty-Two:

A week went by. Ino was gone. Sasuke was gone. Itachi is gone. Lee is gone. Gaara felt more alone than ever. 

He sat in his room. There was school tomorrow. Him and Kakashi went out and picked out some new clothes for school at some point during the week while Guy was at work. Kakashi saw how withdrawn Gaara was. Gaara didn't speak much. He'd been back to the doctors. Thankfully this instance he didn't lose control. He was himself the entire time.

Kakashi and Guy still talked to Itachi occasionally. Gaara didn't know why they talked, they didn't seem close before. Now, they talked once every few days. Gaara would feel a sense of dread when he was watching TV and the caller ID showed Itachi's number. Guy would answer quickly and they would exchange some words and that was that. What were they talking about?

Gaara was always told he was too curious. Just leave things be. No one has to know everything. Ino was worse than him. She wanted to know everything about everyone whether or not she knew them. Gaara was only curious because it was Itachi. He missed Itachi. A lot. This is why he had the spare phone in his room just waiting. This is around the time Itachi would call. He wanted to know. 

The phone rang. Gaara waited until someone answered it for him to answer it after. He listened.

"Ms. Senju spoke to his sister." Itachi said.

"And?"

"She gave more information about the situation. It strengthened the case, unfortunately."

"That bad?"

"Yes. With proof. This case gets more and more stressful as things are unearthed."

"Then why are you doing it?" Kakashi asked softly. "You don't have to anymore. We understand. Everything that happened with you two..."

"That does not mean that I won't fight hard for this case, Kakashi. You know that." Kakashi sighed.

"You love him still, I see."

"Kakashi, it's been a week. I know everyone thinks I'm extremely emotionless, but yes, I love him. I haven't fallen out of love with him in a week."

"I know... Neither of you told me what it was about. Did you want to talk?"

"Nothing against you, but I'd prefer not to talk to my ex boyfriend's parent as for the reason we broke up." Itachi said dryly.

"I was just offering. I understand. Have you two talked?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"We'll talk soon enough, trust me. Sooner than I think he'd like."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"I'm sure he'll tell you when it comes to it..."Itachi sighed. "I have to go. I just called to tell you that. I can't talk about Gaara right now. It's just... fresh."

"Well, thank you for the update. I'll talk to you later. Itachi, really, feel better."

"Don't I wish?"

The phone call ended and Gaara slid the phone under his pillow and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't sure what he just discovered, but he was sure he wasn't supposed to discover it. What case were they talking about? What proof?

Gaara closed his eyes, feeling a headache thump behind them. He started having a lot of those recently. He just chalked it up as another part of his body that hurt. His heart being the one that hurt the most.

***

"Lee! What are you doing!?" Tenten shouted when she walked into the room. Lee looked up at her and had the grace to look ashamed. "Your arm is broken!"

"I have to work out!" He exclaimed. "Sitting idle is doing me no favors!"

"Work out your legs then, you numbnut!"

"I have to agree with Tenten. What you are doing is extremely unwise." Neji said calmly and Lee sat in a cross legged position on the floor with his broken arm pressed to his chest on his sling.

"Doing one handed push-ups is not going to hurt my arm." He said.

"Whatever Lee. Anyway, party tonight!" Lee and Neji exchanged a look.

"Uh. Maybe we should sit this one out." Lee said slowly. "It is Sunday, after all. We would not want to be tired for our morning classes, right Neji?"

"Oh. Yes. We do not need that so early in the year. Tenten, I am disappointed in you." She frowned at him.

"You guys are seriously no fun." She sighed and sat on the couch. "So what are your plans for tonight? Why am I asking? Neji, you're going to study. Lee, you're going to stare at your phone like it's going to turn into your boyfriend if you look at it hard enough." Lee blushed indignantly.

"I do not spend all of my time looking at my phone." He argued.

"You do spend a lot of time looking at your phone." Neji replied and Lee's posture sagged and he sighed.

"Maybe you are right..."

"How is everything going with Gaara, anyway?"

"Him and his boyfriend broke up-"

"Ohhhh." Neji and Tenten said collectively.

"That makes sense." Tenten said and Neji nodded.

"Complete sense." Lee looked at them lost.

"What do you mean?"

"Your boyfriend is single! You have the opportunity to snatch him up!" Tenten said, jumping up. "Why are you just staring at your phone? You should've raced home this weekend to see him!"

"Really? I should have? I could not ask him out so soon, that would be incredibly rude of me. I must give him a proper grieving period. Plus, Itachi was my friend, I cannot just take his ex-boyfriend a week after they split up. That is not nice."

"Well, if you two were REALLY that close, you wouldn't date his ex-boyfriend. So, I suppose you aren't that close. Just ask him out." Lee shook his head slowly.

"I cannot bring myself to make him deal with this decision right now. He is not very happy. He also has pulled away quite a bit. I cannot talk to him." Lee said sadly.

"Why not?"

"He will not respond. I have sent him several messages over the week and he has only responded to one."

"You should give him some time." Neji piped in as he wrote in his notebook. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all."

"I do not know how I could be more absent from his life than being 6 hours away from it. I just miss him very much."

"I know Lee, but give him time. He'll come around."

***

"Itachi! Itachi!" Naruto yelled, walking into the Uchiha Estate. "Sasuke told me to check on you! Where are you!?" 

"Jesus, Naruto. Don't be so loud." Itachi scolded and Naruto jumped.

"Where the hell did you come from?!" Itachi closed his eyes in frustration at the loudness of his brother's boyfriend. 

"I live here. Tell Sasuke, I am fine." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You're in sweatpants. You still have your glasses on and your hair is a complete mess. You look like you're going through a break up."

"I AM going through a break up."

"Oh right. Sorry. Well, your buddy Naruto Uzumaki is here to console you. Tell me your woes, big guy." Itachi looked unamused.

"No thank you. Tell Sasuke in the future, I don't need his boyfriend making sure I haven't drowned myself in booze and ice cream. I'm not the type." Itachi sat down on the couch and sighed. He put his elbows on his legs and leaned his face into his hands and rubbed his face.

"Itachi, you really don't look good, man. Wanna talk about it?" Naruto asked and sat next to Itachi on the couch. "You never wear your glasses. You only wore them for Gaara because he liked them. I don't think I have ever seen you wear sweatpants EVER and dude, your HAIR." Itachi looked at Naruto and Naruto saw the exhaustion in his eyes.

"Thank you for that Naruto. I had no idea how much I looked like shit until you told me."

"Well why don't you tell me what happened! Maybe we can fix this!" Itachi shook his head.

"I looked through his phone, there really isn't fixing anything." Naruto made a face.

"Yikes. What got you to that point?"

"Just... stupid rumor I heard. I should've talked to Gaara about it but I just... I looked through his phone and he had every right to be angry with me. Not only is what I heard untrue, but I found nothing worth being upset over in his phone. It's just... Ugh. I haven't felt that insecure in years, since high school, even. I can't believe I did that. I really fucked up."

"Yeah, I know that. I did the same shit. Sasuke still forgave me. I didn't go through his cell phone but I'm pretty sure his diary counts. Maybe if you talk to him or something you can figure something out? Have you tried to talk to him?"

"No. We're going to have to talk at some point tomorrow though." Itachi said with a look that said he really didn't want to.

"Why?" Itachi pulled out a list from the briefcase that leaned against the side of the couch. He handed it to Naruto.

"Because He's in my homeroom." Naruto was struck with the realization of what Sasuke told him last week. Itachi was filling in for the teacher on maternity leave. He was working at Gaara's school. In Gaara's classes. Apparently seeing Gaara every morning.

"That's rough." Naruto said after a minute of silence.

"Yup."

***

The next morning, Gaara got dressed. He showered last night and so his hair was dried as a mess like always. He brushed it a bit but nothing seemed to work. He just accepted that was his hair now. 

He tiredly pulled his leg through his new pair of jeans and pulled on his brown polo shirt and his dark green cardigan. There were few colors that looked good with his eyes and hair at the same time, he found out those were earth tones. Thanks, Ino. Gaara grabbed his peacoat and walked downstairs to green Guy and Kakashi. He slipped on his shoes and Guy stood up and put on his shoes as well.

"We're going to bring you in to school today, it was a tradition we had with Lee." Gaara nodded.

"Okay. Thank you." Guy smiled at him and they all loaded into the car. Gaara wondered how today would go. What would happen. He'd been okay through the week. His medications were working well enough. Shukaku hadn't really made any appearances. He was getting everything under control. It was nice to finally be okay. His anti-depressants made him feel funny. A lot of people complained anti-depressants numbed them. Gaara had the opposite reaction. They gave him more emotions. He was so flustered with different emotions since they kicked in a few days ago. Plus side is he didn't have any reason to get upset since he didn't see much of anyone.

Gaara bid Kakashi and Guy farewell and walked into school. He went to his locker and frowned at all the kids in the school that he didn't know. People said hello to him a lot. It was strange. Gaara wanted to be left alone. Thankfully, he had music first. He didn't realize how much he'd like music until last year. It still made him think of Itachi though. He put his coat in his locker and quickly hurried to homeroom before the bell rang. For some reason his heart was racing. It was probably one of his medicines. He walked into the room quickly and paused.

Black slacks, tucked in dark gray shirt, black blazer, long skinny black tie that reached his belt, thick rimmed glasses, hair pulled back in a low ponytail with stray hairs loose and framing his face. His eyes were more red today thank black. Jesus. Gaara's heart sped up more and his face flushed.

"Itachi." Gaara blurt out and Itachi looked over at him and forced a smile.

"It's Mr. Uchiha, actually." He corrected quietly. "Hello Gaara. Please, sit down." Gaara nodded numbly and sat in the first desk he could. Being so close to Itachi was hard. For the first time since they broke up, he actually felt like they broke up. With an ache in his chest he saw Itachi write his name on the board and Gaara was hit with the overwhelming urge to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, like I said before. This is where you, as the commenter affect the point where the story goes.
> 
> You can tell me to go on as planned and from this point Gaara and Itachi will reconcile and get back together. Lee will continued building himself and his friendships at school and visit Gaara a few times.
> 
>  
> 
> **Or**
> 
>  
> 
> You can decide it's been long enough and I'll change the direction of the story. Lee and Gaara will have a long distance relationship and they'll have to deal with that.
> 
> Let me know. Thank you.


	53. Chapter 53

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Results of the question**  
>  I got 4 people telling me I should run the course of the story that I planned out.  
> I got 3 people telling me to change my story.
> 
> I'm going to explain basically the story premise with as little details as possible for everyone to understand where in the point of the story the boys get together. This will spoil the story, if you don't mind, keep reading.  
> Natural run for the story is right now Gaara and Itachi get back together, as I said in the previous chapter they make up break up a lot which is annoying but they're learning. Gaara finally realizes in a relationship he can't be selfish and act like how he's doing so he distances himself from Lee because he realizes he can't be committed to a relationship while Lee is still in the picture. This helps Gaara grow in the sense that now he's thinking of other people besides himself and his own desires. By the time him and Itachi break up for good, they've reached an understanding. They just know, "hey this isn't working out. It was a good run." right now if you base this off of a real relationship, there will be lingering feelings and could be a source of "did I do the right thing?" and cause problems for Lee and Gaara because Gaara would be hung up on his ex. In school, Lee learns how to control his jealousy, he has to with Gaara barely talking to him. He starts doing things for him, not because he wants Gaara to like him. He works out, he grows his hair, he becomes a different person with more positivity (and gets buff AF)  
> Gaara goes to college and lives in an apartment with other people(I won't spoil that) by this point is when Gaara and Itachi are on the road to their final break up. Gaara's school is 3 hours from Lee's school. Lee finds out that Gaara and Itachi broke up but not from Gaara. There's a statewide competition that each school that wants to join has to make an obstacle for and all the schools get together and compete. They're teams of 4-5 people. Gaara has a team and Lee has a separate team. The courses are labeled with what kind of skill is used for it (strength, agility, music, ect.) and they pick whomever in their group has the skill and they compete with the course. Lee and Gaara wind up competing and it's their first time seeing each other in a while so they're amazed at the changes (Lee buff with longer hair. Gaara looks older, taller, more filled out and muscular) and Lee is just so amazed and smitten that he lets Gaara win. The competition is an all week thing so they camp together and that's when they finally get together.
> 
> Anyway, if they get together now a lot of things change. As you see I've put a lot of planning into the story so it isn't a change of plans thing. A lot has to be completely redone. So that's my explanation. If you still don't like it, leave a comment.

Chapter Fifty-Three:

Once homeroom was over and the bell rang, first period started and Itachi sat at the teacher's desk. Gaara's heart was pounding in his chest and his face was flushed. He couldn't stop hearing his pulse in his ears. It was a constant thrum that he couldn't get rid of. He examined Itachi and everything he did. The way he crossed his leg when he sat down, how he pushed his glasses up as he read and absentmindedly played with his hair. Gaara knew all of those mannerisms. Itachi was nervous. 

Itachi picked up his clipboard and his pen and began doing rollcall. Every word Itachi said made Gaara's heart beat faster.

"Sabaku, Gaara."

"Here." Gaara said quietly, he was sweating. Why was this so difficult to do? How would he deal with this? Why didn't Itachi warn him? If Gaara wasn't so overwhelmed with sadness, he would be furious right now. 

"Okay, thank you all. As you can see on the board, my name is Mr. Uchiha. I am going to be subbing for the next two months while your music teacher is on maternity leave. I will also be in charge of other departments like instrument lessons, namely piano, violin, and the flute, and chorus." Gaara closed his eyes and cursed to himself. He had piano classes on his schedule. They sounded good at the time. He figured it would be a great time to practice and with his developing skill level he'd be able to get a good grade in it too. A student raised their hand and Itachi looked at him. "Yes?"

"Weren't you Gaston in the play?" Itachi smiled tightly, well, Gaara could tell it was a tight smile, he doubted anyone else could really tell.

"Yes. That was me." There was a collective murmur amongst the students and the one that asked the question grinned and mumbled an 'I knew it'. "I can assure you, I do not act like Gaston, even an iota." A chorus of "aww"s came out and Itachi perked an eyebrow. "I did not realize that was something to be upset about."

"Yeah, I'm sure Beaux over here is happy about that." One kid joked and Gaara's face burned, being brought to attention. Itachi smiled again, more self-deprecating than the one before.

"Yes. I can assure you that I will not be pursuing Mr. Sabaku over there. Now, I know it's the first day, but there is a lesson plan. First things first, I will hand out the new school issued text books..." It was like the room was silent after that. Gaara's heart beating in his ears was the only thing he could hear. Everything else sounded like it was underwater. He knew Itachi was talking, but it sounded like nothing. Gaara gripped his desk tightly. He was starting to disassociate. His knuckles turned white. He couldn't have this on the first day. He couldn't.

Itachi wanted nothing more than to ignore Gaara during the class, it hurt way too much to interact with him. Seeing Gaara hold onto his desk for dear life though, caught his attention. Around his face was red, he looked clammy, he wasn't breathing evenly. Itachi frowned. Kakashi told him a few signs that Gaara was slipping away. Itachi thought he would be alright since he was on medication. He must really be stressed out about the situation. 

"Can I get someone at the piano for this?" One of the kids jumped up and sat behind the piano and started messing with the keys. He knew how to distract music students. Now they would all crowd the piano and try to play over each other. Itachi walked to Gaara's desk and crouched down. "Gaara. You're okay. Do you need to go in the hall?" Gaara could understand Itachi since he was so close and nodded weakly. He quickly got out of the chair and made his way to the hallway and pressed his head against the cold metal locker door. "Gaara. You can control this. You don't need to lose yourself. You're going to be okay. I'm here for you, you know that."

But Gaara didn't know that.

The week was so difficult and he hadn't even realized. He was without Itachi for nearly two weeks at this point. Itachi was such a constant figure. He was always there. He picked Gaara up from school almost all the time last year. He wrote Gaara love letters, he brought him flowers once a week, he took him out to nice restaurants, he took him to fucking Disney world and Universal studios. The Itachi that was right next to him keeping him at arms-length was the same Itachi that kissed him on New Years, the one that went out of his way to make Gaara's birthday special. The same Itachi that Gaara had his first sexual experience with and the several after that. He was the first person to see Gaara completely naked, he was a lot of Gaara's firsts, actually.

And now he's gone.

Gaara couldn't do it right now. His medication had his heart racing. He didn't take his Xanex unless he was too anxious to function, right now seemed like a good time for it. Gaara fell to his knees, sliding down the locker. The tears were instant and even with his lips parted and the heavy breathing he had, they were silent. 

"Gaara." Itachi kneeled down and tentatively rubbed circles on Gaara's back. "Would you like to go home? I can call Kakashi. Or even your sister, she's right across the street." 

The more Itachi talked, the more it hurt. It just physically hurt the inside of his body to hear Itachi. Suddenly, Gaara's skin felt too heavy. He wanted to claw it off. It was too painful to have it there. His heart ached so bad he thought death would be a mercy. Where was all of this coming from?

Itachi sat down next to Gaara, continuing to rub his back and pulled how his cellphone. 

"Temari, yeah. I know you're working but I need you to pick up Gaara at the school. He isn't doing very well." Gaara knew Itachi was talking, he had no idea what he was saying. "Thank you." He hung up the phone. "Come on, Gaara. Let's get your things." Itachi said softly and helped Gaara stand up. 

This was difficult for Itachi too. He just wanted to hug and kiss Gaara and make everything better. Sasuke once got into an argument with Itachi. One of the things he said was 'you can't throw money at all of your problems and make them go away.' Which was a true statement, but for the most part, Itachi was able to do just that. Not with Gaara. Itachi would give any amount of money for Gaara to be happy. He just wasn't sure if it meant happy with him or happy without him.

They made it to Gaara's locker and Itachi opened it for him. When he did, he looked at the inside of Gaara's locker. It was his same locker from the year before, so pictures and mementos from last year were still there. Itachi saw a picture with Ino, a picture with Lee, the Beauty and the Beast cast picture, no picture of him though. He wasn't surprised but he was relatively put out by it. Itachi reached in the locker to grab Gaara's peacoat, he loved that coat on him. When he pulled the coat he saw the back of Gaara's locker. A picture of him and Itachi from Gaara's birthday. They were in the studio and Itachi could tell it was after they made out on the couch for a half an hour. He could always tell when he kissed Gaara by the look in his eyes. Next to the picture was the letter from the Roseshire box last Valentines day. Itachi blinked and slowly closed the locker. He hoped Gaara didn't need anything else in there because there wasn't anything in the world that would get him to open that locker again.

"Go to the office, Gaara. Okay?" Itachi knew he should walk Gaara there, but he couldn't do it right now. He was fighting back tears of his own. Why did Gaara keep those in his locker. "I have to get back to class." Itachi walked away and Gaara watched. He didn't think he could feel more lonely than he did right then.

***

"Oh man." Itachi looked up and saw Naruto. "You MUST be sad."

"Naruto what the hell are you doing here?" Itachi asked and quickly paused his computer with a blush. "Why do you always show up at my house unannounced?"

"Sasuke told me I had to check on you because you get really sad with break ups. I didn't think you would be so sad you'd be listening to 98 degrees though."

"Naruto, I'm impressed you knew who they were right off the bat." Naruto blushed and scratched his cheek with a nervous chuckle. He sat down next to Itachi and Itachi just sighed. "Gaara did not take it well that he's in my homeroom."

"No?" Itachi shook his head. "What happen?"

"Uh, pretty sure he had an anxiety attack and I had to send him home." Itachi said with a frown.

"That's good, right?" Itachi looked at Naruto funny.

"In what world is an anxiety attack a good thing?" He asked and Naruto shrugged.

"Means he misses you if he got worked up that much seeing you, doesn't it?" Itachi ran his fingers through his hair.

"Or maybe it means that I've given him PTSD and seeing me freaks him out." Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, I don't think so. You don't get that from going through someone's phone. Pretty sure you have to be more abusive than that." 

"I'm not going further than that, Naruto, I promise you." Naruto sighed.

"You two should just talk. If you're so sad you two should just get back together."

"Naruto, not only is that the worst dating advice I've ever heard, but aren't you friends with Lee?"

"Uh, what does that have to do with anything?" Itachi pursed his lips.

"You know what it has to do with everything. Shouldn't you be on Lee's side with this, not mine?"

"You know Lee likes Gaara??" Naruto asked, loudly.

"Naruto, everyone knows Lee likes Gaara."

"Then why did you date Gaara?" Naruto asked curiously. "Aren't you kinda like his big brother? I mean, you're like mine. You've been with us so long."

"I dated Gaara because I liked Gaara very much. Gaara wasn't in a position to date Lee at the time either. Even if Gaara and I didn't date, they still wouldn't be together. Lee isn't ready." Naruto frowned.

"What do you mean Lee isn't ready?" Itachi sighed.

"Lee is very impulsive, but he is soft spoken in the way that he doesn't assert what he wants. This is why he ended up with Sakura. Lee is also very jealous, he doesn't like to admit it and I know he does his best to hide it and not act on it, but it's still there and it can be overwhelming. Especially when upset. Taking all that and putting a long-distance relationship on top of it, I don't think they would last. Not only because of Lee but Gaara too. He has his shortcomings as well. One being he needs someone there with him. Gaara needs companionship and solitude. Long distance may seem ideal initially, but Gaara gets antsy and likes being around people. Not all the time. But when you aren't around when he wants you to be around, it's not good for him. If they had a relationship right now, I could just see it ending badly and ruining their relationship now."

"So, do you think they're going to get together eventually?" Itachi sighed deeply at that question. It hurt to think about.

"It isn't something I want to happen. Ideally, I'd be with Gaara, not Lee. But if Gaara and I aren't together then yeah. Probably. I don't know when but I know it's a strong possibility."

"I can't believe you admitted that." Itachi shrugged and leaned back in the couch with a look of resignation. "Does it make you jealous to think about them talking when you two aren't? I know you said it's hard for you to get jealous. I'm curious."

"Naruto, right now I'm jealous of the rain that falls on his skin because it's closer to him than I've been. I don't need to think about other people he's talking to to make me feel worse." Naruto nodded and looked apologetic.

"Sorry, kinda insensitive of a question, huh?" Itachi didn't answer, he just stared at the wall. "Why have you been in the living room so much, anyway? You're usually in your room." Naruto never saw Itachi cry which is why the tear that escaped before Itachi could compose himself and wipe his face surprised him. 

"Um, simple, really. My sheets still smell like him." Itachi sniffled and looked away, embarrassed.

"You can just wash them." Naruto offered and Itachi looked at Naruto pathetically.

"No, Naruto. The reason I haven't gone in there is because they smell like him and I can't let go yet."

"Oh. So you're afraid if you're in there too much the smell will go away?" Itachi nodded mutely. "Damn, Itachi, you must really be upset. I'm really sorry." Itachi didn't speak. "I really think you two should talk."

"I have been sitting by my phone since he left just in case he decided he wanted to talk to me. Trust me, if he wanted to talk to me, I'm all ears."

"Why haven't you messaged first? You should text him now. See if he responds. Ask how he's doing since his anxiety attack. It's a legitimate concern." Itachi was easily convinced, having absolutely no self-control when it came to Gaara. He grabbed his phone and gave Naruto a look. When Itachi saw Gaara's name in his phone, his heart ached. He changed it to Gaara's name a few days ago. It used to be "Amante" since Gaara loved it most when Itachi spoke in Spanish. Now it's just Gaara.

**_I know today was tough for you. I wanted to check up on you to see if you were alright._ **

Itachi sent the text before he lost his nerved and put his phone down on the table. He then felt instant regret.

"I shouldn't have done that. What if he doesn't want to see my name pop up on his phone. Damn it, Naruto. Don't let me do stupid shit right now." Itachi ran his fingers through his hair again. With how often Itachi was playing with his hair, Naruto was surprised it was as messed up as it was. The phone suddenly buzzed and Itachi felt his heart lodge in his throat and he made a grab for the phone like it was a lifeline.

_Doing better. Thank you for today. Won't happen again. Sorry I disrupted class._

That wasn't even close to the type of answer he was hoping for. Itachi didn't know how to respond, so he just put his phone down and stared at it. 

"Have you been like this with all of your break ups?" Naruto asked and Itachi looked at him.

"Only the ones that matter." 

***

Gaara sat in his bed looking at his phone. His heart was racing and his hands were trembling after Itachi sent him the text message. He forgot to change Itachi's ringtone since his phone is always on silent, so in the quiet of his room, as he was carefully tending to his plants, the chorus of his and Itachi's song blared loudly on his desk scaring him half to death.

**Every long-lost dream, led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars, pointing me on my way, into your loving arms. This much I know is true.**

**That god blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, leave a comment in response to above. later days. 
> 
> 12 more comments until the next one shot winner


	54. Chapter 54

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaara and Itachi talk.  
> Lee improves himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Desbelleschoses** : Thank you for believing in the natural course of the story!  
>  **Rae** : Naruto will be in a lot more, as I've said. Right now there's just drama that needs to be addressed, then the story can happen. (I personally can't wait to bring Naruto to Sasuke's campus) Thank you!  
>  **RainiDayz** : You're absolutely right. This story is my baby and I've put too much thought into it to mess it up now. Thank you.  
>  **Leah** : Aw I'm glad! I hope you didn't cry too bad.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Thank you. (Hope your headache is better.)  
>  **Isis Cox** : Wow! Only 6 hours and the story is about 200k? I wish I could read that fast! Kudos to you. I'm glad you enjoy the story!

Chapter Fifty-Four:

The next few days at school, Gaara was a model student. Itachi understood now when Gaara said he was a straight A student. He was great. Itachi wanted to think of other things that didn't center around Gaara, but it was difficult. He was still so perfect. Gaara also seemed to be getting better in class emotional wise. Itachi wondered how that was. 

The only problem now was, next period he had Gaara for piano lessons. Itachi didn't know a time where they didn't make out at the piano instead of actually practicing so this should be interesting. The type of interesting that Itachi wasn't looking forward to. 

Itachi was so nervous the only things keeping him calm were texting his brother and Naruto which was something he just didn't think he would do. Then on top of that, he would respond to emails from his main job. He thought taking this job for two months wouldn't be a big deal, it turns out it was. The stress of seeing Gaara everyday was killer. 

Counting the days left working at the school in his head, Itachi sighed and rubbed his temples, his head now throbbing.

***

"Lee, are you alright?" Tenten called and Lee gave her a thumbs-up in response as he caught his breath. 

"I am fine, Tenten, thank you. Just training. I started to run again. I did not realize how much it would hurt to try and do my normal routine. Where is Neji?" Tenten shrugged.

"I dunno. I don't keep track all the time. I saw you when I was walking to my dorm. Want to come? I'm going to drop off my books then grab something in the cafeteria. You look like you could eat." Lee nodded.

"Yes, I am very hungry." He said with a smile. They began walking together until they stepped into a pattern. Lee was doing breathing exercises to get his heartrate down and Tenten couldn't help but giggle at him. "What is funny?"

"You are, Lee. You're very funny."

"Is that a compliment?" He asked and she nodded. "Oh. I am not used to girls complimenting me." He smiled.

"Aw, why not? You're such a peach."

"I am annoying." Lee said honestly and it made Tenten laugh even harder. "What? I am being honest."

"I don't think your annoying. Neji might, but he isn't a girl." 

"I do not mind what people think. I am learning that." 

"How have you been with everything by the way? Do you miss home?"

"Oh yes, very much. Oh, should I not say that? Is that not a cool thing to admit to?"

"You can admit whatever you want, Lee. I'm not going to make fun of you. I'm your friend, right?" Lee beamed at her.

"Yes! Sorry. I am also loud."

"I know that, Lee. We've hung out for two weeks now. What is with you announcing your faults all of a sudden?" Lee pulled out a notepad.

"I have written things down that I am working on about myself! I am hoping to at least get some of them done by the time I go home after college." Tenten took the notepad and frowned at him.

"You're jealous? You don't seem the type." Lee laughed awkwardly and rubbed his neck.

"Yes, I am. I would like to work on that the most. That is why there is a star next to it." Tenten nodded and read the rest of the list.

"Why are you trying to change all these things about you? They make you original."

"I just would like to mature a bit. I feel like I could do more of that."

"Is this for you or someone else?" Lee raised an eyebrow.

"What is the difference if I get them done?" Tenten stopped them and grabbed Lee's arm.

"Listen, don't let anyone change who you are. If you want to change for yourself, that's one thing. That's self-improvement. But if you're doing this so a certain red-head will date you, it won't be worth it. Promise me this is for you, not for him." Lee nodded slowly. "Good. Let's get some food. When do you get that cast off?"

"In two more weeks!" Lee grinned widely. "I am very happy! I will be able to work out again! I have a brand new work out routine! If I cannot keep up with my new routine, I will do 200 laps around the school!" Tenten blinked at him. She supposed he could work on some things. Namely his yelling randomly. He was a very passionate person. Now everyone was looking at them. She wished Neji were here.

***

Gaara walked into the music room and Itachi was sitting at his desk writing with head phones in. From here Gaara could hear some of the song. Itachi was listening to Country. Gaara stayed in the doorway and looked at the tiles.

Country music was special to Itachi. His father would listen to it all the time when they drove, now he listened to it as a way to communicate mentally with him. Gaara only listened to Country music in Itachi's car. When he heard it, he could smell the green pine scent from Itachi's car freshener that dangled on the rear-view mirror. He could see the trees pass by as they drove around aimlessly. It was crazy how much just a genre could bring him to a moment in time. That was when they found their song. It was a Rascal Flatts song. Bless the Broken Road.

At this point, Gaara was thankful he decided to take one of his Xanax before he came here. It was a lot easier to see Itachi this way. His body was calm, if not extremely tired. It was a nice change. 

Gaara blinked and knocked on the door. Itachi jerked up and paused his music and took his earbuds out. 

"Oh, Gaara. Come in. I apologize, we need to shut the door since we'll be using the piano, I don't want to disrupt the class across the hall." Itachi's blood pressure was through the roof and it only got worse when Gaara closed the door.

Itachi watched Gaara with a clenched fist while Gaara made his way to the piano. Itachi's body was wound up so tight, he didn't know how he would get through this lesson in one piece. He was thankful it was the last period of the day so he could go home after this and just lay on his couch and probably do so until Naruto appeared randomly like he had been.

"Okay, so I have notes from your teacher that says you're going to be one of the students going to NYSMA. Do you have your song picked out yet?" Gaara shook his head. "That's fine, it isn't until April. You'll be fine. I'm going to finish this and you can just do scales for a minute. I'll be right over." Gaara nodded mutely and started slowly pressing the keys. They didn't feel natural under his fingers. He missed the feel of Itachi's piano. How did he expect to disassociate Itachi from piano and most of his life at this point? "Okay." Itachi put his pen down and moved his chair to the piano. "What have you learned recently?"

"I've been just playing with chords, honestly." Itachi nodded and tried his best to forget this was Gaara and just treat him like any student. "But I have been thinking a lot of your lessons from back in February." Itachi looked pensive and then an expression of understanding took its place.

"Playing with emotion?" Gaara nodded. "Okay. What emotion have you found helps you best?"

"The other night when you text me, after you messaged me I didn't stop playing until I got it right. It took a while, I didn't have the music, but I never read the music anyway." Itachi's heart clenched at the familiarity of them. "I think sadness is a nice inspiration to music. I played the song so much, but I couldn't seem to get it right. It isn't a sad song and it's difficult to play it sad right now. I'm going to try to play it differently right now.

"Okay." Itachi said softly and Gaara's fingers hovered over the keys and he pressed a few of them randomly to make sure he was on top of the correct note. When he was sure, he gave himself a moment and started to play the piano.

He might as well have just ripped Itachi's heart out. Itachi put his head on the piano and listened to the all-too-familiar song.

Their song. Gaara learned how to play their song.

"I set out on a narrow way, many years ago. Hoping I would find true love, along the broken road. But I got lost a time or two, wiped my brow and kept pushing through, I couldn't see how every sign, pointed straight to you." Gaara looked at Itachi in the eyes and tilted his head slightly and continued on. "Every long-lost dream, led me to where you are, those who broke my heart, they were like northern stars, pointing me on my way, into your loving arms. This much I know is true." Itachi couldn't keep his eyes off of Gaara. "That god blessed the broken road that led me straight to you." Tears stung Itachi's eyes and he sat up to rub his face as Gaara trailed off in the song until he wasn't playing the piano anymore.

"Why? Gaara. Why?" Itachi tried to compose himself better, but it was a rough week. He took his glasses off and put them on the piano and rubbed his face again with both hands.

"I won't lie to you, Itachi. I'm pretty high right now." Gaara said lightly and Itachi looked at him funny. "My Xanax. Nothing illegal. I knew I couldn't handle this lesson. Usually I take half a pill when I have really bad anxiety. This time I just took the whole thing. I'm very tired though, I feel like I could pass out so I'm glad it's the end of the day."

"Gaara if seeing me makes you so anxious, why are you here? I would just give you a grade and then we would both be fine." Gaara shook his head. 

"I wanted to see you. I mean I don't and I do at the same time." Gaara blinked rapidly. "Sorry, really tired. The pill made me pretty happy. I feel like I can fix my life right now." Gaara gave Itachi a lazy smile.

"Gaara, don't look to these as a permanent solution for your sadness. Don't medicate with Xanax unless you have to." Itachi said and Gaara swatted his hand.

"Yes. I know. I got the lecture from Kakashi and Guy already. I'm not going to turn into a drug addict. I'm just saying right now I'm feeling pretty good so it's letting me see a lot of things more clearly, ya know?" With how relaxed Gaara was being, Itachi had half the mind to ask for a pill for himself. 

"Why did you play that song, Gaara?" Gaara shrugged. "Why did you learn it?"

"Because I love you." Gaara said simply and Itachi's mouth hung opened a bit. "Don't look so surprised. You act like I never said it before."

"I'm just surprised you still do, is all." Itachi said quietly and Gaara laughed.

"Why? It's been like, what? Two weeks or whatever? Of course, I still love you. I'll always love you. You're my first love. Why are you crying?" Itachi shook his head and got up and grabbed a tissue and stayed facing away from Gaara while he collected himself. It was a lot more of an emotional day than he planned for. "Itachi, talk to me."

"Why? Why do you want to talk now Gaara? Because you're high?" He asked lowly.

"Well, it's the only time I can look at you without losing myself, so yes." Itachi blew his nose and still didn't turn to face Gaara. "I didn't have the guts to talk to you before." Gaara whispered. Itachi finally turned back around.

"Why not, Gaara?"

"I was scared to see you. "

"I'm sorry I hurt you that bad." Gaara's brow raised.

"You didn't. I hurt you. I'm no good, Itachi." Gaara shook his head and Itachi sat back down next to Gaara.

"What do you mean?"

"I was going to end up hurting you if we stayed together. It's better this way. Now, Shukaku can't hurt you." A look of heartbreak bloomed on Itachi's face. It was strange to see.

"You left me because you didn't want Shukaku to hurt me?" Gaara nodded. "Shukaku can't hurt me."

"He already did. I'm just going to make sure it doesn't happen again." Gaara said honestly, his eyes were getting really heavy. It was hard to keep up.

"I can handle Shukaku, Gaara." Itachi promised. "He doesn't scare me. I would do anything for you, you should know that."

"Can you kiss me?" Gaara asked and Itachi straightened his posture out of shock. "Please, I want to see if it's there."

"What is there?"

"The spark. They say if you love someone there's a spark when you kiss, I just want to see if it's true. If even after two weeks of this, the spark is there." Gaara had to be high if he was saying this.

"What if it is, Gaara?" Itachi whispered, Gaara frowned.

"Then I will admit I made a very big mistake with letting you go." Gaara's own eyes shone with unshed tears.

"But, what will that mean for us?" Itachi asked and Gaara smiled.

"That's for you and a me that's not high to figure out."

"I should wait to kiss you then." Itachi decided and Gaara frowned at him. "What?"

"I want you to kiss me right now." Itachi's heart hammered in his chest and he looked at the door like someone was about to walk in any moment. "Just one small kiss."

"We're at school, Gaara." Itachi argued and Gaara smiled. "I'm your teacher now." A bigger smile. Itachi rarely blushed but his face was turning pink now. "You like that, don't you?"

"Of course, Mr. Uchiha." Gaara purred and then laughed, Itachi felt uncomfortable. Now was not the time for Gaara to have this type of control over him. 

Completely ignoring everything in his mind telling him not to kiss his ex-boyfriend on a piano at the school where he worked, Itachi leaned in and kissed Gaara as lightly as possible. Like a drug, it washed over him as a feeling of calmness. He smiled into the kiss and when he pulled away, Gaara had a look of thought on. 

Gaara could still feel Itachi's lips on his. It wasn't a spark he felt, it was more like a flood of relief, an ache in his chest, like all the tension from everything else wasn't there anymore. No, it wasn't a spark. It was completely different. It was acceptance. It was admiration. It was certainty. It was home.

***

By the time Naruto arrived at the Uchiha estate, he noticed something different. 

Not only was there country music blaring from a back room, but Itachi wasn't in the living room on the couch. The living room was actually cleaned. Naruto followed the sound of the music and it brought him to the laundry room. 

"Hey, you're alive." Itachi turned to him and raised an eyebrow. 

"Hey, you're breaking and entering."

"Can't break into a house with an unlocked door, my friend." Naruto said simply. "So, what's the deal? You're happy and listening to country music. Sasuke only does that when he's in a bad mood."

"Reminds us of dad, don't fault us." Itachi said, smirking.

"Hey! You're wearing your contacts!"

"Yes I am."

"Seriously, Itachi, what's got you in such a good mood? Did you talk to Gaara?" Itachi paused and frowned slightly.

"I did. I'm not sure where we are right now, but we talked a bit and it was nice." Naruto grinned.

"Hey, that's something!"

"Yeah. I'll take it." Itachi opened the dryer door and took the damp heap from the washer and moved it to the dryer and turned the dryer on.

"Are those your sheets?" Itachi smiled.

***

Gaara woke up in his bed the next morning. He didn't remember falling asleep, in fact he barely remembered anything. He got out of his bed and he sat in front of his desk and looked in his mirror for a minute trying to wake up and clear the fog from his mind.

A few minutes later, Kakashi walked in and sat on Gaara's unmade bed. It took a moment for Gaara to turn to Kakashi and actually be coherent enough to have a conversation, but he believed he was finally out of the fog.

"Good morning Kakashi." Kakashi nodded at him. "What happened?"

"You took too much of your anxiety medication." Kakashi's tone suggested that he wasn't very happy with Gaara for doing so.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't think half would help at all. I'm starving." Kakashi nodded again.

"Yes, that's because you've been asleep since you got home yesterday. Itachi was kind enough to drop you off, he said you were really out of it and needed to sleep. You walked right up to your room like a zombie and you've been sleeping since. You've been asleep for 16 hours, of course you're hungry." Gaara's eyes widened. "Yes, I know. This is why you stick to the recommended dosage of your medicine. Please, Gaara, please don't do this again."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know... I didn't know I'd be knocked out for so long. I thought it was supposed to calm me down. I didn't know it knocked me out." 

"A lot of medications do good in only small dosages. Just make sure you don't do it again unless you really need it. Are you well enough for school today?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Gaara said quietly and Kakashi stood up and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"Everything is going to be just fine, Gaara." He said and left the room. 

***

After a quick shower and breakfast, curtesy of Guy, Gaara was ready for school. 

"You eat like Lee normally does!" Guy laughed and Kakashi agreed. The reminder of Lee made Gaara said. He missed his best friend. He looked at the seat Lee usually sat at and held back a sigh.

There was a knock at the door and Guy jumped up to go get it. Kakashi was curious who would be there this early. 

"Oh, Itachi! We weren't expecting you!" Gaara's heart thudded in his chest. Itachi was here? "What brings you by?"

"I was actually going to offer to bring Gaara to school. I had something I needed to talk to him about, if you don't mind." Gaara heard Itachi's calm tone, how was he speaking like that? Gaara was always confused where Itachi was coming from. He always seemed calm and collected around anyone else but him. 

"Do you want to go?" Kakashi asked quietly and Gaara nodded slowly. In the shower he remembered what happened before he got too out of it. Itachi was probably wondering what was going on. He had every right to.

Gaara stood up and grabbed his bookbag and sweater. He waved to Kakashi and walked by Guy.

"Ya leavin'?" Guy asked and Gaara nodded. "Take care. Call us if you need to." He said quietly and Gaara gave him a reassuring smile. They didn't need to worry about Itachi of all people. Itachi couldn't hurt a fly.

"Hello." Gaara greeted and Itachi inclined his head at Gaara and waved down the hallway where Kakashi and Guy were, then shut the door. Itachi opened the door for Gaara, as he normally did and closed it, then got in on his own side. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes. I think we need to. We don't have to be at school for another half an hour so I was just going to drive around, if that's okay?" Gaara nodded. "Alright." Itachi started driving as he buckled his seatbelt. Gaara always found it funny that he never buckled himself in before hitting the gas, but it was an action that was familiar and it made him happy to see.

"You want to talk about the kiss?" Gaara asked and Itachi smiled softly.

"I'm surprised you remember. You were quite out of it." Gaara sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry if I was weird. I didn't realize taking so much of it was going to mess with me. What do you have to say about the kiss?"

"Gaara, I love you. You should know that by now. I think you know what the kiss meant to me. The real question is what the kiss meant to you. Do you remember what you felt at all?" Gaara nodded slowly. "Would you like to tell me?" It was strange hearing Itachi sound so unsure and awkward. Itachi was the coolest person Gaara ever met and his calm demeanor was something that he really liked. 

"I remember I kissed you to see if I would feel a spark. I didn't, did you?" Itachi tensed and he didn't say anything. "I didn't feel a spark when we kissed, it felt different. It was like coming back home. It was comfortable, it was familiar, it was warm and it was safe."

"So, what does that mean?" Itachi asked and Gaara looked at him.

"Did you feel a spark, Itachi? What did you feel?"

"I felt... powerful, I guess the best word to describe it. I felt relieved, recharged."

"But no spark?"

"What would that change? Would it matter if I did or not? Even if I didn't feel a spark, I felt something. It was a good feeling, and it felt right, so why does it have to be a spark?" It was a valid question.

"It doesn't have to be a spark. I was just always told that's what you feel when you kiss someone you love. And I love you and I felt emotions that I forgot about."

"So, what does that mean? For us?" Itachi asked slowly and Gaara looked at him.

"I wasn't so sure that you would want anything with everything that's happened." Gaara said simply and Itachi pulled the car over into a grocery store parking lot so he could give Gaara his full attention.

"Gaara, what are you telling me? That you'll be with me if I tell you that's what I want? Because I do. That's all I want."

"Itachi, I don't think it's smart. We shouldn't. Who knows when Shukaku will-"

"Gaara I don't give a shit about Shukaku. I shouldn't have cared the first time and I'm sorry if I proved to you that I couldn't handle him because I know I can now. And I want more than anything to prove to you that I can. I can do it, please, Gaara." It was bizarre seeing Itachi talk like that, to beg. He never did that before.

"Why do you want to be with me so badly? I'm already a broken mess, don't you see? Why don't you do yourself a favor, Itachi. I'm not going to get easier to deal with." Itachi shook his head.

"Gaara, if I wanted something easy to deal with, I wouldn't have dated you to begin with. I love you, okay? I love you very much. I love you so much, in fact, that I picked you up and I'm proclaiming my love for you in the parking lot to a grocery store when I really should be at work early enough to get ready for my class which you are in. I can't concentrate on anything but how much I love you. If it's really over though... Then I promise I won't do something stupid like this again. And I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. You know I never want that for you. I just really wanted you to know that I love you. Ok?" Itachi held Gaara's hands and looked down at them. Gaara knew Itachi loved him. It was something that made him uncomfortable to realize, how much Itachi loved him. Itachi deserved better than him.

"I don't know." Gaara said finally and Itachi looked up, confused. "I don't know what's going to happen with us, Itachi. I don't know if it'll get better. I don't know anything. I'm going through a lot right now. I can say this, I love you. I love you, Itachi. I'm just worried about what happens if I hurt you? You say I can't, but I know I could. So why don't we just... take this one step at a time, ok? We'll hang out again, we'll see where it goes. And if it starts heading towards me hurting you, I am pulling myself out." 

"Okay." Itachi squeezed his hand tight. "So, you want to be friends, is that what this is?" Gaara nodded slowly and Itachi's face didn't mask his disappointment.

"Don't look like that, Itachi. We don't know if something might change."

"I'm going to prove to you that I can handle Shukaku, okay? And when I do, I promise I won't let you get away from me again. I'll be friends with you, it's worth more to me than not having you in my life at all. I'll prove to you that we'll be good together." Itachi said softly and Gaara stared at him, not sure if he was entirely convinced or not. He figured they would find that out soon enough.

For now, he was just thankful that he wouldn't have to deal with terribly awkward music lessons. Now he could actually learn from Itachi. Itachi was one of the most intelligent people Gaara knew.

If only that meant Itachi was intelligent enough to not get involved.

***

"You're back late." Neji noticed when Lee walked in at 9:46pm. "Hot date?"

"Oh yes. The hottest." Lee said with a smile and hung his coat up. "I was volunteering at the soup kitchen. I am working with myself, I have realized the best way to rid yourself of jealousy, is to humble yourself. So, I thought by working with people who were having a difficult time, it would help. I am not so sure if it helped in the way I was planning, but I do feel a lot better now. I told them I worked a lot in a kitchen and they asked if I would like to help prepare the dinners when my arm was healed! I am very excited to do so!"

"What made you pick the soup kitchen, Lee?" Asked Neji as he wrote his essay at his desk.

"I do not know, for sure. I just thought how nice it would be to help someone that needed it. You should join me, Neji! Next time!" Neji looked up slowly and saw the happy, yet pleading look in Lee's eyes.

"Seriously?" Lee nodded. "Why me?"

"I just think it would be a fun thing for us to do as roommates!" Lee said excitedly. "I have so many things I would like to do, but something like this is really healthy for the soul! And plus, a healthy soul will make you feel youthful for a long time! The power of youth-"

"Oh Jesus, forget I asked." Neji mumbled and Lee stopped his tirade.

"I just want us to be friends." Lee said honestly and Neji stopped mid-type to look up. "I know we are not really friends. You put up with me when we are with Tenten. You do not seem to like me otherwise. I just wanted a chance to change that. I look up to you, Neji! You are very cool and you are smart and you are a good fighter. And I get such a cool guy as my roommate and I am so thrilled yet you do not want to be my friend and I just... would like to be friends." Lee scratched his neck awkwardly and averted his gaze. "I am sorry. Forget I said that." Lee sat at his desk and did his best to busy himself.

"When is it?" Neji asked a few minutes into the silence. Lee turned to face him.

"When is what?" Neji rolled his eyes.

"The soup kitchen. When do they do it?"

"Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 4-8." Neji frowned, that was quite the commitment. "They don't need the same people every time. Just whenever you can help."

"Okay. We'll go on Wednesday. Unless you made plans with your other... _friends._ " Neji said with a look and Lee's face lit up. Neji could tell he wanted to rant about youth or something but instead, he smiled without showing his teeth and nodded at Neji.

"Awesome. I cannot wait. Thank you Neji." And instead of annoying Neji with talking, Lee turned to face his desk to actually get work done. 

"I hope I don't regret this..." Neji said quietly and Lee chuckled as he wrote. Lee was glad to have friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm feeling better, in higher spirits. So, let's think.
> 
> 1) Whom should visit whom in college first?  
> 2) Would you like to see Neji dragged around doing all the "feel good" things with Lee or just Lee himself?  
> 3) Eventually, Neji will come back home with Lee, what should his response to Guy be?  
> 4) Is the break up dynamic of Gaara and Itachi believable?
> 
> **5 more comments!!!**
> 
> **Note**  
>  There are now two origin stories up! Please go check them out! I've worked hard with developing them. Since the story is still in infancy, you as a reader have a lot of sway as to the superheros and villains! (And the pairings~!)


	55. Chapter 55

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of random shit to forward the plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been watching episodes of Naruto to remind myself of all the characters to hopefully figure out how to get them in the story and keep them in character and let me just say...
> 
> That Madara fight with the shinobi alliance is my new sexuality. Hot DAMN.
> 
> Another note, I have seen the end of the story. I am emotional about it. Very emotional.
> 
>  **Leah** : I have no idea who Itachi will end up with or even if he will end up with anyone when the story is over. I'll see if I can fit it in somehow.  
>  **MirSama** : Gaara is in love with Lee! That's his boothang. The love of his life! For me, a first love thing is kinda like your first real relationship. The first person you grow with and bond with. Gaara kind of had that with Lee but everything was rocky and for the most part they didn't realize their feelings at the same time.  
>  **Rae** : I do have a plan for Lee visiting! It's almost autumn after all! I have no idea what Neji's story should be lol. I can't wait for Neji to be like "oh yeah I can handle your dad" and then like 3 minutes later he's like "please. I yield." I love Itachi so much and it breaks my heart to break his heart.  
>  **Luna_Lilly** MY DEAR I MISSED YOU. Again, I hope you're feeling better. I will try to work on your fic ASAP. GET BETTER.  
>  **RainiDayz** : It's fine. It took me forever to update this anyway. I really want Gaara and Neji to meet so that would be fun times. Neji will have Naam flashbacks after seeing Guy lol.

Chapter Fifty-Five:

"Lee, you're in a lot higher spirits than before!" Tenten called, seeing Lee in the quad. He ran up to her and grinned, showing off his arm. His cast free arm.

"My arm is all better! I can begin to train again!" He said happily.

"Uh, maybe you shouldn't go at it too hard. Your arm did just heal, after all. Where have you been? I didn't see you or Neji yesterday."

"Oh! Yesterday Neji and I went to the soup kitchen! We have made it a habit to go every Wednesday together!" Lee announced.

"The soup kitchen?" Tenten seemed surprised. That didn't seem like the Neji she knew. "That's great. Have you two done anything else together recently?"

"No, but we will begin training soon! Once I am in my best shape he said we will spar!" Lee's eyes gleamed with excitement and the mirth in Tenten's eyes seemed tangible.

"I'm sure you two will have a blast. Hey, did you hear about what's going on next year? The competition?"

"No, what competition?" Lee asked curiously. There wasn't a competition he wouldn't enter, that's for sure!

"You form groups and all the colleges from the surrounding area work on an obstacle course. They give an entire year notice since they take so long to make. Each school is in charge of one. They have themes, the theme to next years is 80's movies. I think our school has The Goonies. I don't know what they're doing. You should get a flier about it soon. Would you like to be in my group? I think we can rope Neji in too!"

"That sounds wonderful! I cannot wait to read the flier about it!" Tenten was excited as well. 

"There's a lot of different courses. They can be put into 6 categories I believe. Strength, agility, speed, art, music, and knowledge. They recommend you create groups of 4-6 for everything, as long as you have a contender for each category. What one would you like?"

"Strength!" Lee said excitedly. "I will train all of my strength for this! I am sure Neji will pick speed or knowledge. What would you like?"

"Agility. It seems fun. We just need an artsy person on the team, it looks like. Anyway, I can't wait to tell Neji! See you around! Have fun in class!" The mention of class seemed to put a slight damper on Lee's mood and he sighed and waved goodbye, heading towards the science building.

***

"Hey Gaara!" Gaara was startled at the greeting, but hid it surprisingly well. "It's awesome that you're joining the dojo! Looks like I'm gonna be the one training ya!" Gaara blinked a few times, he wasn't fully aware that Naruto was even able to train others.

"Oh. I thought..."

"Yeah, they said sorry but they're busy. It's no biggie! We should really chill anyway. Get the team back together, ya know?" Gaara nodded slowly but unsure what Naruto meant. "Anywho, Let's get going! So what do you know how to do?"

"Um... I can stand in place pretty well..." Gaara said with an awkward shift of his legs and stumbled slightly. Naruto stared at him and sighed deeply.

"Whelp, looks like I certainly got my work cut out for me. It's fine! We'll get you in tip-top shape in no time! Here ya go~!" Naruto handed Gaara a full karategi and a white obi. "Go get changed and we'll start!" 

Gaara tentatively took the clothes and walked to the locker room. He was told to use Lee's locker which he felt a pang of sadness even looking at. Locker number one. Gaara put in the combination and opened the locker. Lee's karategi was folded nicely on the bottom of the locker with his black obi rolled up on top of it. When Gaara looked up he saw Lee had pictures in his locker and his heart stuttered seeing a picture of him was there. Gaara touched the picture softly and wondered why Lee put his picture in the locker but felt his heart melt at the action all the same.

Gaara missed Lee more than he cared to admit. It was an emptiness, really. And he missed Ino, with her loud mouth and sarcastic sass. He had Naruto, at least. He just hoped they would be able to actually become friends. Gaara wasn't too sure with how close Naruto and Itachi seemed to be. Especially lately. 

After Gaara and Itachi's talk in the car two weeks ago, everything was shifting. School was easier to deal with because Itachi was a lot happier. There wasn't an ache when he saw Itachi. There was a longing, sure. But it didn't hurt to see him, it was actually exciting to see him. They were texting almost all the time, sometimes Gaara would text him on purpose in the middle of class because he knew Itachi always forgot to turn down his volume on his phone. 

At first it was really embarrassing for him and Itachi since his text tone was their song, like it was for Gaara's phone. Itachi wound up changing it once everyone in class giggled at the love song and Itachi's face was red for an entire 5 minutes. Gaara was saddened when he did it again and it was a regular ding. He'd have to somehow get Itachi's phone and change it to something just to fuck with him.

In the end, Itachi was a great friend and Gaara really did love him. They were dancing around that right now though. Sure, Shukaku hasn't made any appearances since being on the medication longer, but Gaara was still worried. That, and Lee was always on his mind. Always.

Once Gaara was changed, he couldn't help but putting his forehead on the locker and close his eyes just trying to imagine what it was like for Lee to be standing in this exact spot over a month ago. God, did he miss Lee. 

Gaara shook his head out of the thoughts and walked into the opened room where Naruto sat waiting for him. 

This was going to be an interesting time. Naruto grinned at him and Gaara suddenly wished he was anywhere but there.

***

"How was training, Gaara?" Guy asked with a smile as Gaara trudged his feet up to the staircase.

"Terrible. I hate Naruto." He tiredly dragged his legs up the steps, whimpering slightly at the heavy ache in his legs.

"I told Naruto that Gaara was not used to any physically draining activity. Why did he go so hard on him?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

"That's the beauty of youth, rival~!" Kakashi groaned. Not this again. "You see, when you're young, you can really take a beating and come out stronger! It isn't until you're about- Rival, where are you going?"

"Away from you." Kakashi mumbled and went upstairs.

"Rival! Come back my love!" Guy tripped over his chair and followed his husband upstairs.

***

The next day at school, Gaara was grumpy. Itachi had to hold back a laugh just seeing Gaara's face when he came in because he just looked so angry.

"You look like that internet famous cat." Itachi pointed out and Gaara looked at him and glared.

"It's the internet, you're going to have to be more specific on famous cats." Gaara said dryly and Itachi nodded in response.

"You got me there. So you had training with Naruto, huh? I told him to go easy on you." Gaara's eyes narrowed in Itachi's direction.

"Why ever would you say that?"

"Martial arts is hard, you aren't used to working out in that fashion, I didn't want this exact thing to happen to you. You'll be sore for about 3 days." 

"Fantastic. I work tonight." Gaara sighed and the class started piling in so Itachi and Gaara ceased their conversation. 

Once the middle of class hit, Gaara pulled out his phone and sent a text to Itachi. It just vibrated uselessly on the desk and Itachi stared at his phone, then gave a triumphant look to Gaara and Gaara sighed. There went his fun. Itachi learned.

***

"You are a fantastic opponent, Neji!" Lee complimented as they both sat in the grass, panting and sweating. "I should have known!"

"Are you always this excitable about everything?" Neji asked blankly and Lee grinned at him.

"You are my roommate! You should know!" Neji sighed in resignation. Yes. Lee was excitable. About everything. "It is Wednesday so I need to get ready for the soup kitchen. First I need to shower. Are you going to come today?" Lee asked and Neji nodded slowly and pushed himself off the ground.

The two found a steady pace as they walked back to their dorms. It really was a beautiful day and with the leaves starting to change colors since it was the end of September, Lee was struck with the sadness of missing his best friend, Gaara.

Lee groped his pocket for his phone and looked at it and shook his head. He didn't know why he was so surprised when he saw he had no new messages from the redhead. He had some texts from Sasuke and a bunch from Naruto though. Lee clicked on Sasuke's and it was just a rant about light bulbs for whatever reason. When he clicked on Naruto's, his heart skipped. They were pictures-of Gaara! Gaara was in a karategi. He looked so handsome! It was a shaky picture so he couldn't see much but it was with Naruto too. Naruto started training Gaara in Karate! 

Lee felt a sadness about that. He wanted to be the one to teach Gaara. He was happy that his friend was learning!

_Your buddy here sucks by the way lmao._

_**Naruto, do not insult Gaara! I will laugh when the day comes that he kicks your butt!** _

_Hahaha, if you saw him now, you would NOT be saying that, let me tell you. Did you know how clumsy he was?!_

Lee frowned at that message. It seems Lee momentarily forgot the klutz that was Gaara. It was funny really, it would be like if Neji or Itachi were clumsy. Gaara was always so stone faced and calm, the fact that he often tripped over his own two feet was just funnier than it should've been. Gaara could trip standing straight up not moving, honestly.

_**You are right about that, Naruto. Gaara is insanely clumsy. Hopefully you will teach him not to be!** _

_Yeah I doubt that..._

_**Are you training now?** _

_Yes, Bushy Brow. I am texting you while kicking Gaara's ass that’s how much he sucks. No I'm not training you dumbass. Itachi picked us up a while ago._

_**Itachi? Why are you two with Itachi?** _

_Because we're friends? Duh?_

_**Oh. I was told Gaara and Itachi broke up. I was not aware that they were friends still.** _

_Haha, you're funny if you think Itachi is going down without a fight, bud. Yeah they're not together but man, Itachi is laying it on so thick, I think I got pregnant._

_**Thanks for that visual, Naruto. I hope Sasuke is okay with his brother impregnating you.** _

_Oh yeah, Sasuke. I forgot about him. He's being a total dick!!_

_**What did he do?** _

_He isn't texting me back fast enough. I've talked to you now more than I talked to him all damn week! I'm with Gaara so much now I might as well be dating him!_

_**I do not think that would be wise, Naruto.** _

_Yeah, with you and Itachi? I'd have the snot beaten outta me. Could you imagine though? You two are all like 'ohhh Gaara pls love me' and then I swoop in all like 'hey Gaara. I'm going to totally kick your ass every day' and Gaara is like 'omg yes thank u.' and that's how I stole Gaara from you and Itachi._

_**I truly hope Itachi sees that text message. Anyway, I'm sorry about Sasuke. He just text me not too long ago complaining about a light bulb. Have you talked to him?** _

_No! That asshole still hasn't responded from my message this morning! Ah! That dick! He's lucky I don't have a car or else I'd drive up there and kick his ass!!_

_**Naruto, you may not have a car, but you also do not have a license, permit, or knowledge of how to drive a vehicle. You just wait! Your love will shine through! Sasuke is probably busy!** _

_Yeah yeah, whatever. You keep standing up for him. Now I gotta make Itachi buy us dinner so I'll text you later. And if Sasuke messages you again, tell him to fuck off._

_**Sure. I will do that.** _

Lee put his phone away and sighed at the realization that Gaara and Itachi were on good speaking terms again. He wondered if they would get back together. He shook his head. It would be fine. It isn't like they would date now anyway. It would be so difficult! Perhaps when Gaara went to college he could go to this one and they would be able to stay together!

"Lee, are you ok? You've been glaring a hole through the ground since you stopped texting." Neji scrutinized and Lee nodded but his normal grin wasn't there. "Is it that Gaara kid again?"

"He is not a kid. He hates when people call him that." Lee responded automatically and sighed. "Yes. He is not speaking to me right now. I just miss him." Neji calmly took Lee's phone and turned it on, amazed that he didn't have a passcode. Lee watched him warily. Neji went under Lee's contacts until he found Gaara. Wasn't hard, it had a ton of heart emojis. He gave Lee a look and Lee blushed bright red. Then Neji was calling the number.

"Neji what are you doing?" Lee asked panicked.

"Hello? Oh, I am terribly sorry. I did not mean to call you. I must have pocket dialed you by mistake. Have a good day." Neji hung up and handed the phone back to Lee and Lee just stared at Neji curiously.

It took about 2 minutes for Lee to get a Facebook message from Gaara. Lee was surprised but Neji just smirked.

_Did you lose your phone? Your number just called me and it wasn't you._

Lee looked to Neji for an answer and Neji sighed and took the phone back.

**_Nope._ **

He handed Lee the phone and Lee stared at the text confused. Why is that all Neji said?

_Are you okay, Lee?_

Lee went to respond but Neji took the phone back.

**_Yup._ **

"Neji! What are you doing? This is the most he has talked to me all week!" Lee said completely flustered. Neji didn't give the phone back this time.

_Are you sure?_

_**Yes. I am busy. I will speak to you when I am not.** _

"Seriously, Neji what are you doing?" Neji just smirked and gave Lee his phone back.

"You'll see. Just know that two can play at the game Gaara is doing." Lee stared at Neji in confusion but at that point they were at their dorm showers and had other things to worry about.

***

Gaara looked at his phone, Lee was calling. That was strange. Lee never called him. It was usually just a text. Sitting in the car next to Itachi, he debated whether he should answer it or not but Naruto seemed keen on trying to convince Itachi to buy them dinner so he decided now was as good of a time as any to answer the phone while Itachi was distracted.

"Lee? Are you okay?"

"Hello? Oh, I am terribly sorry. I did not mean to call you. I must have pocket dialed you by mistake. Have a good day." They hung up. That wasn't Lee. Gaara had no idea who that was. Was Lee's phone stolen? Should he text Lee? No that was stupid, if his phone was stolen, then how would he get the text message? Gaara opened Messenger and found Lee to message him. He probably still had his computer and he was always on Facebook so he messaged Lee.

_Did you lose your phone? Your number just called me and it wasn't you._

Gaara bit his lip when he was that Lee was texting back. Just texting Lee gave him anxiety for whatever reason.

**_Nope._ **

Nope? Who says nope? What kind of message is that? Lee would usually dive into a story and 6 sub stories if Gaara asked him a question. And the period? What kind of official business were they discussing? Was Lee hurt? What happened? Is he okay?

_Lee, are you okay?_

_**Yup.** _

Again! With the short answer and the period! What was going on? Was this even Lee? Lee never knew how to shut up. And Gaara barely spoke to him this week so it wasn't like he didn't have a lot to talk to him about.

_Are you sure?_

_**Yes. I am busy. I will speak to you when I am not.** _

Gaara was officially offended. Who did Lee think he was? Why on earth was he acting so dismissive? Who answered his phone? What was Lee doing that had his attention? Why couldn't he respond?

"Dude, Gaara, are you ok?" Naruto asked suddenly and Gaara blinked and rubbed his face.

"Yes. I guess I'm just tired, is all. Sorry." Itachi and Naruto didn't seem quite convinced. 

Gaara just wished he knew why this all bothered him so badly.

"Would you like to go to dinner?" Itachi asked and Naruto grinned victoriously. He should've had Gaara ask to begin with! Itachi wouldn't turn down anything Gaara asked for!

"Uh." Gaara looked down at his phone and an irritation set in his stomach. He decided if Lee was busy with another guy, he should be too. "Yeah. Let's get something to eat."

"Yes!" Naruto put his fist in the air and Itachi rolled his eyes and half wanted to tell Naruto he wasn't invited.

***

Later that night, Gaara sat on his bed looking through Lee's Facebook. It had been a while since he snooped, looking just made him miss Lee more so he avoided it. He saw that Lee had new friends and one was a girl that even tagged him in things all the time. Lee would respond with laughing emojis. He was recently online, it looks like.

Gaara clicked on the other new friend he had. A boy. Hyuuga Neji. Who was this? When he clicked on his profile, he had to admit, Neji was cute. Not just cute, he was handsome. Long hair, beautiful eyes, broad shoulders. Was this the guy that answered the phone? Was it Lee's boyfriend? Was it Lee's roommate? Gaara was slowly growing irritated as his curiosity got stronger. He exited Facebook and went on Instagram. Lee had a few new pictures posted. One was with his new female friend. She looked nice enough. The other was Lee and that Neji guy. Lee was grinning, Neji was glowering and they wore hairnets with aprons.

_Wednesday is soup kitchen day! Give back to your community! [heart emoji][smiling emoji] @HyuugaNeji_

Gaara clicked on the link and it brought him to Neji's Instagram which was blocked. Awesome. This is where he needed Ino. He decided to call her up.

"Yamanaka strip joint, you got the eyes, we got the prize."

"Ino."

"Gaara. Hi honey, you haven't called in a while. Everything okay?"

"I got a call from Lee but it was a pocket dial and a guy I didn't know answered and I don't know who he is but on Instagram Lee tagged some guy in a picture with him-"

"I'm on it." Gaara heard the tapping on the phone. "Neji? Yeah I'm following him already on one of my fake accounts."

"You... You have a fake account?"

"Yeah, I have 3 of them. How else am I going to stalk people?"

"Ino, you're crazy."

"And you need me to be so it's fine. Anyway, I've been creeping on him too. I thought you may get curious eventually. It took you longer than it would've taken me though."

"Ino, he posted it 19 hours ago."

"Yes, exactly. And 18 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds ago is when I would've gotten curious. Anyway. It doesn't seem like they're together. In fact, he's kinda boring. I'll send you screenshots hold on." More clicking until Gaara's phone vibrated. "He's hella cute though."

"Yeah, that's what I noticed too."

"Aw, besides Lee we totally have the same taste in boys!" 

"Yes, Ino. Thank you. Anyway, he doesn't have any pictures with Lee from the looks of it. He has a few with that one girl."

"Tenten? Yeah I follow her on my other fake account."

"Jesus Christ, Ino."

"You love me. Just admit it." Gaara bit back a chuckle. "Why don't you ask him?"

"He was acting weird. I messaged him about it-"

"Screenshots, honey." Ino interrupted and Gaara sighed and opened messenger, took a screenshot and sent it. "Whoa, what the fuck. Where is this coming from?"

"I haven't really been responding to him so maybe he's finally annoyed? But it's just... He's never too busy to talk to me. And it's a dick thing to think about, but I got annoyed."

"Yeah I would too. Seriously, the fuck is this bullshit? Try talking to him anyway, see if he got over his period and needs some goddamn Midol and a heating pad to stop being a bitch."

"I feel like that was sexest."

"It was. I'll get over it though. Anyway, go on and text him! Then send me screenshots!"

"Alright. I'll talk to you later, Ino."

"Love you boo. Bye~!"

***

Lee was alone in the dorm room. Neji went to one of his later classes and Tenten was... wherever Tenten goes. Lee was bored out of his mind and finally his bored mind won and he took out the book Gaara made him. His heart was racing just thinking about the hidden pictures. 

He shouldn't...

Lee tried his best to ignore the urge, but he couldn't help it and turned to the back cover. He was quite startled when his phone went off beside him like a warning. Lee calmed himself down and picked up the phone. Gaara.

_Are you still too busy to talk? I'm worried about you. Just let me know if you're okay._

Lee stared in amazement at the message. How did Neji's plan work? What kind of backwards thinking was that, anyway? Lee didn't know how to respond. Neji's idea clearly worked, so should he continue being dismissive? Should he act normal? Oh, but he missed Gaara so much. Lee groaned, he wished Neji was here.

**_I am fine. Please do not worry. I am just very busy lately._ ** __

_Okay. I'm sorry for bothering you then._

_**No! You are not bothering me. I am alone in my dorm room right now. I am finished with my homework.** _

_Oh. Okay. I know we haven't talked in a while. I'm sorry. It's been really hard here. I'm just starting to get a normal pattern. I didn't mean to ignore you. Like I said, just a lot going on._

_**What is going on? Are you well?** _

_Just everything with Itachi. Then there was my job. There's the fact that Guy and Kakashi insist I take karate, with Naruto no less. Then I joined Drama club. I have my piano lessons. It's just a lot and it's stressful. They're also looking at me as a possible valedictorian, if not, salutatorian._

_**Gaara! That is fantastic! The end of that message, not the other parts. I am sorry you are having a rough time. I am glad that you are getting more involved with things. How is Itachi doing?** _

_Uh, well as it turns out, he's the new Music teacher so right after we broke up I walked into the classroom to see that. So that was rough. We sat down and talked so we're okay now._

_**He's the music teacher?! Would that not be illegal since you and him were together?** _

_I honestly don't have a clue. Looks like we never had to find out._

_**I am sorry for the loss of your relationship, Gaara. Really.** _

***

Gaara looked at Lee's message for a while, not knowing what to say to it. He rubbed his eyes and his phone went off. He looked down again, it wasn't Lee. He closed down Messenger and looked through his texts. It was Itachi.

_**Feel free to say no, but would you like to hang out some time without Naruto? Nothing inappropriate, I just miss talking to you.** _

Gaara had no idea what was going on with his life right now. He felt more stressed out about these boys than he did about school. He turned his screen off and stared at his door for a while. A part of him was waiting for Lee to walk in and greet him. He missed Lee so much.

Here he was now, looking at texts from Itachi and realizing that he missed Itachi too. Gaara didn't know what the future held, but right now he couldn't even count on Lee responding to him all the time. Gaara wondered when the next time Lee would act dismissive would be. He sighed.

_I wouldn't mind at all. When were you thinking?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want everyone to know **I started this fic 5 months ago today. It took me 5 months to write +200k words. Bow down to me.** (This does not count the words in my other stories lmao.
> 
> Anyway.
> 
>  **What I would really like help with**  
>  When Neji and Gaara finally meet, what should their dynamic be?


	56. Chapter 56

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING. SEX SCENE**  
>  Y'all had to know THIS was coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **RainiDayz** : I would love to write a jealous Gaara. But trust me, you're in for a surprise lol.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Something like romantic? Or just bros being bros? Naruto will continue to kick Gaara's ass.  
>  **Rae** : THESE BOYS ARE EVEN MORE

Chapter Fifty-Six:

"So Neji, what exactly did you do? How did that work? Gaara messaged me last night. He has not reached out to talk to me in a while." Lee asked the next day at breakfast.

"I made him jealous." Neji said simply and bit into his toast. "He doesn't know who I am. I'm calling on your phone. He overthought and became jealous of nothing so he messaged you."

"Oh. Is that bad?"

"What do you mean is it bad?"

"It feels... dishonest." Neji gave Lee a look.

"It got Gaara to talk to you, didn't it?" He said flatly and Lee nodded slowly. "Then there you go. Not all bad."

"Oh. Okay." Lee started to eat his breakfast and looked at his phone for any new messages. Gaara seemed to be on radio silence after Lee apologized for his relationship. He wondered if it was still a sore subject. He would have to apologize for it later. Certainly not with Neji. Neji probably wouldn't want him treating Gaara like that right now. He would prefer Lee to ignore him for a while to give him a taste of his own medicine. That isn't how Lee functioned.

"You're thinking too much, Lee." Neji said calmly. "Stop."

"I know. I am sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just don't do it." Lee nodded and looked at his phone again.

***

After his first period class ended, Gaara sat in the desk taking longer to pack up. He was lost in thought and he had to talk to Itachi anyway. And man, did Itachi look good today. He wasn't sure what it was about him that was so attractive, but it was certainly there. He wore gray slacks and a tucked in black shirt rolled up to his elbows and a black tie. Nothing particularly special, but he looked so good in it. 

"You alright, Gaara?" Gaara looked up at Itachi, he was erasing the board and he looked so nice doing it.

"Yes, Mr. Uchiha." He noticed the slight pause in Itachi's movements and he turned to look at Gaara as he bit the inside of his cheek. Literally no other student turned him on by saying that, but when Gaara said it, all bets were off. He should give Gaara special permission to call him Itachi lest he wanted to spend every day sporting a half erection.

"Don't... Don't call me that." Itachi said quietly as Gaara rose from his seat. He tilted his head.

"You told me to call you that first day of class." Gaara pointed out and Itachi inwardly groaned. He knew this was a bad idea. Why did he accept the position? "Anyway, you never told me when you wanted to hang out."

"What does your schedule look like?" Itachi asked and sat on his desk. Gaara walked a bit closer so they could talk quieter.

"I have training with Naruto every other day and I work when I can. My schedule isn't really set."

"You trained with Naruto yesterday, does that mean you're free today?" Gaara nodded.

"Until I decide to go to work, yeah." Itachi gave a small smile.

"Would you like to do something today?"

"Sure. Can I get in your car after school or no?" Itachi hadn't thought about it. He couldn't see why not. Everyone saw him pick Gaara up all last year. 

"Sure, come with me." Gaara nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you later today." Gaara left to go to his next class and Itachi eyed him as he left. 

***

_**I apologize if anything I said yesterday upset you.** _

_Uh, where is this coming from?_

_**You stopped responding so I thought I hurt your feelings by bringing up your break up. I am sorry.** _

_Lee, I was just tired. I went to sleep. I'm sorry I forgot to respond this morning. I'm not angry with you._

_**Oh. Okay. Good. I would hate for that to be the case. Are you doing alright now?** _

_Yeah. I'm fine. Just doing school things until school is over._

_**Are you training with Naruto after school again?** _

_No. Itachi actually wanted to hang out before I went to work. I train with Naruto tomorrow though._

_**Oh.** _

_Are you okay?_

_**Yes. I just did not know how to respond to that. Have fun hanging out with Itachi. I hope work goes well for you. I need to get to class. I will talk to you later.** _

Gaara stared at his phone with a frown. What was bothering Lee? He couldn't possibly be jealous of Itachi still. Could he? Gaara and Itachi were dating for months and Lee seemed to cope well enough but now that they were hanging out as friends, Lee got all weird? Gaara didn't like that. He put his phone in his pocket and stared at the clock. Not much longer until school was over and he was honestly excited to leave.

***

"Lee are you alright? You seem out of it now." Tenten pointed out and Lee sighed. "Gaara?"

"He did not even do anything! Him and Itachi broke up. Okay, cool. So now they are going to hang out until Gaara has work. I do not know why that makes me so..."

"Jealous?" Lee frowned at the word and nodded.

"I told you I must work on my jealousy. I cannot even hear Gaara hang out with his ex boyfriend without getting angry about it."

"Maybe you think they're going to get back together." Neji piped in and Tenten glared. "What? They just broke up a few weeks ago. It's possible."

"Thank you, Neji. That was helpful." Tenten said flatly. "Don't listen to him, Lee. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Don't coddle him. If Gaara and Itachi get back together, they get back together. Lee can't do anything about it. He knows he has to learn to be less jealous. Let him start here. Lee let me tell you now, there is no use being jealous over things you can't control. You will drive yourself crazy." Lee nodded slowly.

"You could've been nicer about it." Tenten grumbled.

"No. He is right. I should work on my jealousy and I should try now. I just... I am going to go for a run. I will see you guys later." Lee got up from his desk and left the dorm room.

"He didn't even get changed into his running clothes."

"Goes to show you how angry he is." Neji said simply and Tenten looked confused. She couldn't even see Lee as angry. He just didn't look happy. His anger was a lot different than anyone else's.

***

At the end of the day, Gaara was putting his stuff in his locker and he grabbed his books and put them in his bag. He felt someone stand behind him and looked back.

"Hi Mr. Uchiha." He greeted and heard Itachi growl and held back a smirk. Gaara finished packing his things. "We can go now."

They walked down the hallway through the madness of the after school rush. Itachi really wanted to go home.

They got to the car and climbed in without a problem. Gaara watched Itachi turn the car on, put it in gear, start driving, then put his seatbelt on. Gaara couldn't help the tiny smirk he had. Itachi still had the same quirks. It was nice to see. 

"Where would you like to go?" Itachi asked and Gaara shrugged uselessly.

"I'm not sure. I'm kind of tired so maybe your house?" Itachi nodded semi-stiffly. Having Gaara alone in his house seemed interesting. Especially with their dynamic right now. 

Gaara stared out of the window watching houses pass by. He didn't notice how tense Itachi was. Itachi was regretting asking Gaara to hang out platonically so bad right now. More than anything he wanted to lean in and kiss him. He missed Gaara being close. 

When they pulled into the Estate driveway, Gaara unbuckled himself and grabbed his belongings. Itachi parked the car and Gaara already climbed out of it. Itachi took his laptop case and briefcase and they headed inside. Itachi grabbed his phone and sent Naruto a text about him hanging out with Gaara and to please not drop by unannounced today and Naruto sent him 17 winking faces. Itachi sighed and pocketed the phone, following Gaara to the living room.

They lounged on the couch for a while, barely talking. Gaara wasn't kidding when he said he was tired. Poor kid looked about ready to pass out. Itachi frowned.

"Do you want to lay down in my bed?" He asked and Gaara rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Sorry. I don't know why I keep falling asleep. I fell asleep in study hall today. That never happens." Itachi stood up and outstretched his hand and helped Gaara up.

"Come on. Let's nap." Itachi offered and Gaara followed him, still rubbing his eyes. Jesus he was exhausted.

They got to Itachi's room and Gaara took off his socks and sweater. Itachi offered him sweatpants which he took gratefully, not really wanting to wear jeans for a nap. Itachi got changed too and they both laid in bed. They looked at each other for a minute until Gaara turned on his side facing away from Itachi. Itachi frowned at the action and Gaara reached his arm behind for Itachi's arm and put it over his side. Itachi's insides warmed at the action and he cuddled closer behind Gaara feeling a lot better than he did before. Spooning with Gaara was insanely comfortable. Gaara fell asleep seconds later. 

Itachi stayed awake for a bit just to enjoy the moment. The feel of Gaara's hair tickling his face. The soft and hardness of the curves of Gaara's body. The way he smelled. The heat radiating off his body. They way his skin felt. Everything. He missed this more than he could describe. He hoped maybe this wouldn't be the last time this happened. 

Then, Itachi fell asleep.

***

_Fucking SASUKE._

_**What is wrong, Naruto?** _

_DID YOU READ MY MESSAGE?! SASUKE!!_

_**Not what I meant. What happened with Sasuke?** _

_He's just a dick! I don't know what crawled into that holier-than-thou ass of his but I'm going to beat the hell out of him! I swear!_

_**Naruto, now that you two are in a relationship, I am pretty sure that is domestic abuse.** _

_Nah, he can handle it. If there's anything he can handle, it's an ass pounding._  
WOW not what I meant  
I mean... 

_**Naruto, it is fine. I do not want to know.** _

_Jesus, Lee how do you deal with Gaara when I can't even deal with Sasuke?_

_**Deal with Gaara? What do you mean?** _

_I get super pissed off when Sasuke blows me off. You said Gaara was blowing you off before and now Gaara AND Itachi are blowing me off! Itachi even told me they were hanging out at the house and NOT TO SHOW UP. Like how do you even deal? If that was Sasuke, I'd kick his ass._

Lee stared at the text for a while and had to put his phone down and breathe. His heart was pounding in his chest. It burned. Just breathe Lee. Breathe.

He just couldn't get an image of them together out of his head. It was frustrating. Lee literally felt his jealousy in his fingers and toes it burned so bright inside him. He stood up from his desk and Neji looked over at him.

"I am going for a run." Lee said, and Neji was surprised when the door was slammed on the way out.

***

It was surprising with how tired Gaara was that he woke up only an hour later. He felt a lot better and he felt insanely warm. He turned his head and saw Itachi's hair. He rubbed his eyes and the action made Itachi stir next to him. When Itachi opened his eyes, Gaara noticed they were reddish again. He didn't know what caused his eyes to change color but whatever it was, it was cool. 

"Morning." Itachi grumbled and yawned.

"Morning." Gaara turned a bit and paused when he felt Itachi's erection. Morning wood. That's all it was. "How was your nap?"

"Fantastic. Yours?" 

"I'm feeling more alive now. Sorry about that. Must not have been fun for you." Itachi smiled.

"Oh no, it was fun. You can come over whenever you'd like to nap." The air around them was playful and they sat on their sides, facing each other and just staring. 

Itachi was noticing Gaara's hair begun to get darker. It was strange. It wasn't so bright red anymore. It had been changing slowly for months. Now he was up close and actually paying attention. It was still red, just not as bright as before.

"What would you like to do?" Gaara asked and Itachi continued to look at Gaara.

"I'm fine where I am." He said earnestly, being as close to Gaara as he could without being touchy. He didn't want Gaara to be uncomfortable by touching him now that they were awake.

It was going to be hard with those eyes staring at him as they were. Gaara's eyes were always his favorite trait in Gaara's physical appearance. They were a beautiful color, only highlighted by the darkness around his eyes. 

"Well, maybe not." Itachi said a minute later. Gaara blinked in confusion.

"Why?" Itachi shifted on the bed awkwardly and Gaara noticed he adjusted his erection in his pants.

"Just because we aren't together, doesn't mean you still don't drive me crazy, Gaara. You still do." Gaara looked at Itachi and couldn't help but agree. The feeling was very mutual. Gaara still loved him despite everything that happened. Itachi was his first boyfriend, his first of a lot of things. As much as he loved Lee, Lee didn't have the bond Itachi and him shared. That isn't to say that Gaara and Lee didn't have a bond of their own. A strong one. Just that him and Itachi had one too.

Itachi found it odd that Gaara didn't reply. He just stared. He looked at Itachi closely, mainly staring into his eyes. He knew the expression Gaara was giving him. He was asking for a kiss. Itachi had seen that look to many times to not know what it meant. He leaned in, slowly. Giving Gaara all the time in the world to pull away if he chose to do so. He didn't.

Itachi took that as a good sign. He gently kissed Gaara's lips slowly and moved his hand to the small of Gaara's back. Gaara shifted closer to him and Itachi put his other arm under Gaara's head to bring him closer. Both Gaara's hands were on Itachi's chest. Gaara felt Itachi's heart race under his fingers. There was no doubt what this kiss meant to him.

They kissed like that for a while. Just small innocent kisses. The throb in Itachi's pants kept getting worse and it was hard to keep himself level headed. He knew he would think about this moment later. 

Gaara's fingers gripped the cloth under his hands and tugged on it. Itachi was surprised but pulled away and took his shirt off and captured Gaara in a kiss again. As they kissed, he started to unbutton Gaara's shirt and Gaara shivered under his touch. Itachi felt the throbbing get worse and he discarded the shirt to the ground and his fingers brushed over Gaara's chest and arms. It wasn't much, but he could feel Gaara gain muscle by the weeks he spent with Naruto at the dojo.

What surprised Itachi was next Gaara was pulling down Itachi's sweatpants. It took him as such a shock that he had to think for a few seconds before he realized he needed to move in order to get them completely off. After his were off, he gladly pulled down Gaara's pants and tossed them to the side. He straddled Gaara and felt the heat of his body beneath him. He got goosebumps and Gaara's hands were at Itachi's hips. Itachi lowered himself slightly and was surprised enough by the feeling of Gaara brush against his erection that he looked down and noticed Gaara was hard now too. He looked back up at Gaara and saw the half-lidded lust blown expression. Itachi nearly whimpered at the sight. He kissed Gaara again before he pulled his boxers off to just look at Gaara's cock. Itachi pulled the foreskin back and Gaara's hip bucked underneath him and he let out a hiss.

It was rare that Gaara even got hard, but even rarer that he was this aroused. Gaara's cock was weeping as precum trickled down the side. Itachi just stared in wonder and Gaara sat up and helped Itachi take his own underwear off. Once they were on the ground, he was glad to be free of the restraints. Boxer briefs weren't the most comfortable thing to wear when you were sporting an erection and Itachi was pretty sure there was more than one wet stain on them.

Gaara saw Itachi's cock and noticed how the head of it just glistened with precum. It throbbed under the scrutiny of Gaara's stare. Gaara leaned in and put as much as he could fit in his mouth and Itachi was happy he caught the yelp and was able to hold it back. A blowjob was even more rare than an aroused Gaara. Just how turned on was he?

Itachi had to stop himself from bucking his hips but it was hard when he looked down to see Gaara in this position. Itachi stared at the curve of Gaara's back and couldn't keep his eyes off Gaara's ass. He fantasized about it for so long. 

Gaara pulled away and by this point, Itachi was thrumming with excitement. He looked curiously at Gaara and he laid back down in the bed and spread his legs out. Itachi wasn't exactly sure what he meant to imply. He crawled in-between Gaara's legs and gave Gaara's cock a long lick and Gaara breathed heavily and eventually pushed Itachi's head away. Itachi was now confused.

"I don't want a blowjob, Itachi." He said gruffly. "I want you to fuck me."

Gaara noticed the second those words came out, Itachi's slightly red eyes were now blood red and his expression was twisted with desire. Gaara sat up and yanked the hair tie out of Itachi's hair so it flowed over his shoulders. Itachi pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and bit his lip-hard.

"Are you sure?" Itachi asked and Gaara nodded and as much as Itachi wanted to keep being reassured this is what Gaara wanted, he just didn't have the willpower at this point. He scrambled off the bed to grab lube and got back on the bed and coated his fingers in it and slid one inside Gaara. It was easy enough getting through the muscle rings but this was only one finger. Gaara writhed under his touch and Itachi couldn't get the smirk off his face. 

He added a second finger not too long after. He should really prep Gaara longer but he was getting impatient. He spread his two fingers as far apart as he could until he could slip in a third finger. Gaara shivered when he brushed against his prostate. Itachi did it again. When Gaara moaned, he realized he was much too impatient for this. He grabbed the lube and covered his cock in it and slid inside Gaara to the second ring of muscle before he met with too much resistance. Gaara's face didn't change. It was still hazed with lust.

"Stop being so gentle. I told you to fuck me." Itachi was surprised by the comment but he didn't hold back and completely sheathed himself inside Gaara. Gaara winced and cried out, but after that, his expression was the same. "I said fuck me. Why aren't you moving?" 

"I didn't want to hurt you, Gaara. You're a virgin." Itachi explained and Gaara rolled his hips, making Itachi moan.

"That's fine." Gaara said quietly. "I want it to hurt." Itachi blinked and the realization dawned on him that Gaara liked things rougher. He just couldn't imagine that this would be very comfortable.

"Let me know if you want me to stop or slow down." Itachi said and Gaara wrapped his legs around Itachi's hips and gave him a better angle. 

Itachi put all of his feelings of being gentle to the side and just let himself enjoy the moment. He pulled out and pushed back in quicker than he would normally, but not fast enough for Gaara. Gaara pulled Itachi down to his level and kissed him roughly, distracting Itachi in the kiss. Itachi thrust in and out, the pain was there, it burned. Gaara was sure he was bleeding at the roughness. He moaned into the kiss and pulled Itachi closer to him and sucked on his neck. As Gaara distracted Itachi by turning him on more, he noticed that Itachi would get rougher automatically. It was delectable. He bit Itachi's neck and in response, Itachi slammed into him so hard he yelped and he kept doing it. Gaara's nails dug into Itachi's back and Itachi roughly pushed Gaara to the bed, now having a trail from Gaara's nails off his back and onto his sides. He grabbed Gaara by the hips and lifted him up higher, digging his fingers into the flesh. Gaara's arms raised up to brace himself against the headboard and Itachi fucking into him with vigor. 

Gaara was sweating, there was pain there that he forced himself to stay quiet about. It made his body respond in such an interesting way and he felt more turned on than he ever had. He had to give Itachi credit, after some coaxing he turned into quite the rough lover. Gaara saw his face completely twisted in pleasure and found himself eyeing the way his body moved. It was like a dance. The way his hips would roll when he bucked them. Gaara felt Itachi's grip on his hips tighten and wondered if it would bruise. Itachi looked pretty far gone.

Itachi could barely see Gaara with his eyes mostly shut but he couldn't bring himself to look at Gaara right now. He knew if he did he would finish. He was so close the last time he did. Gaara just looked so good under him. He couldn't take it anymore. He pulled out of Gaara and grabbed him, flipping him onto his stomach. Gaara got on all fours but Itachi pushed his head down into the mattress and pulled his hips back and shoved himself inside Gaara without warning. Gaara trembled and let out a strangled cry. 

Itachi was so deep it hurt. There was an ache every time he slammed himself back inside and Gaara bit his knuckle. Itachi was also rubbing against his prostate and the action made Gaara whine. 

"You're so tight, Gaara." Itachi moaned. "Fuck."

Gaara's eyes burned with unshed tears when Itachi moved a certain way and pain just pulsed through his body. He pressed his face into the mattress and closed his eyes tightly. He wondered when Itachi would finish and found himself hoping he wouldn't for a while. 

The longer Itachi was fucking his hole, the less resistance he met and the less painful it became. Gaara was sore, that was sure, but it didn't feel like enough anymore. All he felt was the pleasure of Itachi rubbing against his prostate repeatedly. As nice as it felt, Gaara wished he'd finished when the burning was still there. 

"Not enough." Gaara said suddenly and Itachi paused. 

"What do you mean?" He asked, breathing heavily.

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I want it to hurt." Itachi frowned and pulled out of Gaara and Gaara whimpered at the loss of fullness. "What are you doing?"

"We can wait a while if you want. I'm sure it'll hurt more if we go at it again later." 

"I want you now." When Itachi saw Gaara's cock leaking all over his sheets, he knew how turned on he was. He thrust back inside and couldn't help the shuttering moan fall from his lips. He wanted to finish so bad but he wanted Gaara to finish first. It was getting increasingly more difficult.

Itachi resumed the aggressive movements of his hips but this time he smacked the side of Gaara's ass really hard. Gaara gasped at the sudden pain and Itachi felt him tighten around his cock. Itachi did it again and felt Gaara's body tremble. He knew Gaara was close. The third time his hand hit the side of Gaara's ass, he saw Gaara's fingers clench the sheets underneath him and Itachi felt the extreme tightening of Gaara's hole. He came, loudly. Itachi thrust into him a few more times to ride out Gaara's orgasm until he found himself finishing inside of Gaara. 

Gaara felt the pulse of Itachi's orgasm and tried to steady his breathing. His own orgasm was too much for him to keep his eyes opened for much longer. He remembered the first time he came when Itachi was sucking him off but this one was different. Gaara felt so lightheaded he thought he'd faint.

Itachi eventually pulled out and collapsed on the bed next to Gaara. Both of them breathing heavily. Itachi pulled Gaara into his chest and kissed his forehead. He loved this man so much. He gave him another kiss.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Gaara breathed and Itachi made Gaara look at him.

"How was it?" Gaara nodded.

"Fantastic." Itachi smiled and kissed Gaara's lips. Both of them fell asleep again soon after.

***

When they woke up, Gaara noticed there was a sticky feeling everywhere. He frowned when he realized he fell asleep on top of where he finished and hoped Itachi wouldn't mind changing his sheets. Itachi was looking up at Gaara with a soft smile as he rubbed Gaara's back.

"What time is it?" Itachi looked over at his alarm clock.

"Nine." Gaara's eyes widened and Itachi nodded. Yeah. They slept a bit too long. "I know you have to go, but let's take a shower real quick, okay?" Gaara nodded and climbed out of the bed, feeling warmth trickle down the back of his legs. "Gaara, I'm so sorry." Gaara looked at the bed and on his legs. Blood. Blood mixed with Itachi's cum, actually. Itachi looked horrified. Gaara didn't care all that much.

"Are you showering with me or not?" Itachi quickly followed him to the bathroom. He wasn't going to waste a single moment he could spend with him.

***

"Lee are you better?" Neji asked later that night. Lee nodded.

"Yeah. I just overthought and got myself worked up and jealous. I need to lean to not do that." Lee admitted with a sigh.

"First step is admittance. What got you worked up?" Lee blushed and looked away from Neji. He always felt like Neji would be annoyed with how much he talked about Gaara.

"Nothing. Just something Naruto said." Neji made a thoughtful noise.

"So it had nothing to do with Gaara?" Lee stayed quiet. "So it did?"

"It was nothing. Just that Itachi and Gaara are hanging out and Itachi asked Naruto to specifically not go over. I just thought too much into it. Anyway, I will be able to sit down and talk to Gaara soon enough." Lee shifted his posture under the scrutiny of Neji's gaze.

"When are you planning a visit?" Lee smiled excitedly.

"I am going to see him next week! Last year we went to the apple orchard this time of year to go apple picking. I told him it would be a tradition and I intend to keep my promise!" Neji nodded slowly.

"Just don't get too mixed into it, Lee." Neji warned and Lee looked confused.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just always be cautious when it comes to your heart. You never know what's going on." Neji said simply and Lee found that he felt worse now than before. He stared at the floor, then pulled out his scrapbook and wondered if Gaara ever found his letters. He hoped so but, maybe not. Gaara hadn't mentioned anything. It was over a month ago. How long would it take him to find the letters anyway?

Lee stared at the pictures for a while and shut his light off and climbed up to his bed and fell asleep, wondering if Gaara would text him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #SorryNotSorry  
> Gaara was supposed to lose his virginity to Itachi. I didn't really think it would be this rough until I wrote it but it made sense so I kept it. Plus, if you want sweet lovemaking, you'll have to wait for Gaara and Lee (You won't have to wait for long~! ;D)
> 
> Yeah, seriously. Gaara and Lee are going to sleep together. Soon. Don't give up on the story just yet lmao. (Plus I really needed Gaara and Itachi. For entirely selfish purposes.)
> 
> 1) Should I have Lee sleep with someone else or no?  
> 2) Should Lee find out about Itachi and Gaara?  
> 3) What should happen when Itachi finds out about the eventual Lee and Gaara?  
> 4) How pumped do you think Ino is gonna be?


	57. Chapter 57

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee finds out about Gaara and Itachi.  
> Lee goes home.  
> Lee and Gaara fight.  
> Sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **MirSama** : Like I said before, it was supposed to be a sad chapter. I hope this one (sort of) makes up for it!  
>  **Rae** : Yass. I'm going to really have to think about that from where this story ended up right now lol.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Damn it! Now that's what I want. I didn't know I shipped that until you mentioned it. I'll try to make it happen.

Chapter Fifty-Seven:

When Gaara came home that night, he was lucky enough to avoid Kakashi and Guy. He made sure he was dropped off much later than they typically stayed downstairs for. He snuck up to the bathroom and took a nice hot shower and when he was done, he examined his body in the mirror. There were bruises in the shapes of fingers on his hips, scratches down his chest, hickeys on his neck and shoulders, the side of his ass had a slightly raised mark of Itachi's hand. He looked like he was beat.

Gaara made it to his bedroom and got dressed into pajamas. He sat at his desk to do his homework and just found his mind was occupied. He sighed and rummaged through his desk drawers and reached the bottom drawer. 

There was a folder. Gaara's curiosity was peaked and he grabbed the folder and began to sift through it. Letters. So many letters from Lee. Gaara was touched. He didn't know Lee went through all the trouble. He took the stack out and when he did, a picture fell to the ground. Gaara put the letters on his desk and reached for the picture and turned it over. His whole face burned. It was Lee. A very naked Lee. And boy, were his muscles a lot bigger than he remembered them as. He would have to thank Ino for putting the idea in Lee's head to even give him a picture. Gaara tucked the photo away and began to read the letters that Lee left.

***

_I found your letters. I'm sorry it took so long. I had no idea you left them. Thank you. They really help with me missing you._

Lee rubbed his eyes and read the message again. It was midnight, he couldn't believe Gaara found them at midnight. 

_**I am glad you finally found them! Why are you up so late?** _

_I'm glad I found them too. There's a pretty nice picture here as well... I was working late. I got home an hour ago._

_**I am sorry you worked so long! Oh, I forgot I left that there, haha.** _

Lee's face burned with embarrassment at that.

_Don't be sorry. I like it. You should really go to sleep. I'll text you later._

_**You must go to sleep as well, Gaara! I cannot wait to talk to you!** _

Lee laid down and felt a positive buzz. He was just happy that Gaara seemed to be talking to him more and more. He closed his eyes and fell back to sleep, holding his phone to his chest.

***

Seeing Gaara in class the next day was torture.

First, Itachi needed to wear a turtleneck with how much Gaara attacked his neck and even that didn't seem to hide all the marks. Itachi had to put makeup on his neck in order to cover it enough. Then he left his hair down so it was more coverage on his neck area. 

Then seeing Gaara sit in his desk with obvious discomfort just reminded him of what happened the day before and Itachi had to bite down on a pencil to keep himself occupied.

He wound up biting through the pencil and spit out the inside in disgust. Gaara chuckled and just hearing that sent a tingling feeling down Itachi's back. He just told himself there was two more weeks left of this, then he could have sex with Gaara and not have to worry about sporting an erection in front of his class.

When Itachi looked at Gaara, he noticed the marks on his neck and just thought about how he was the one to put them there and wondered how he would get through class today. Worst of all, Gaara was smirking at him like he knew. The bastard.

Itachi told himself, next time he would be even rougher.

***

Gaara arrived at the dojo and went into the locker room to start getting changed. He arrived before Naruto did so that was a first. If there was one thing Naruto was early for, it was training. That's it.

As Gaara was pulling up the gi pants, Naruto walked in and Gaara's eyes closed in frustration at not putting on his uwagi in time. Naruto stopped mid-stride and took in all of the marks on Gaara's body.

"Whoa, man, you look like you got your ass kicked." Naruto pointed out and Gaara smiled wryly and put the uwagi on and quickly exited the room as he tied on his obi.

Naruto stared in confusion for a while and then quickly changed himself. He paused and just thought about what could've given him those nasty bruises. He shook his head and decided he would find out later and went out to train Gaara.

Gaara had gotten better over the few weeks they practiced. He wasn't good still but he was better than he was. He didn't get winded as easily. That was always nice. It sucked before but now he felt that he was training Gaara instead of kicking his ass with just warm ups.

The bad thing about the uwagi was how much his neck and collar bones were showing. Gaara had to bite through the embarrassment of having Itachi's marks all over without a way to conceal them and Naruto was very much a loud mouth so who knows what he would say. Gaara was reminded to call Ino and tell her about having sex with Itachi before Naruto told her and she'd get pissed off. 

Naruto could tell that Gaara was a lot more distracted than usual and used that as his advantage. If Gaara wanted to be distracted, fine, but Naruto refused to hold back!

"How is it going here?" Gaara froze upon hearing Kakashi's voice. Oh no...

Gaara turned to Kakashi guiltily and Kakashi's eyes widened on seeing the bruises on Gaara's neck.

"Naruto! What did you do to Gaara?" He asked and Naruto held his hands up defensively.

"I didn't do anything to him! He was like that when I got here!" Gaara glared at him. Way to throw him under the bus like that, Naruto.

"Gaara?" Kakashi looked over his nearly adopted son and he really looked at him. He sighed and nodded. Gaara knew that moment Kakashi was aware of what the marks were and how he got them. "Is Itachi picking you up today?" Gaara nodded slowly. "Okay." Kakashi left the room and Gaara didn't think he could be more embarrassed than having his father figure talk to his ex-boyfriend about the rough sex they had. This was not going to be fun.

"What was that about? What does Itachi have to do with-Oh." Naruto's eyes widened and suddenly he understood. His face turned red. "Itachi did all that? Damn!" Gaara covered his neck awkwardly. "Did you kill his cat? What even was the reason for him being so..."

"Naruto. You're supposed to be training me." Gaara said and Naruto sighed.

"I mean if you insist."

***

Itachi parked the car in the parking lot a few minutes before he was supposed to pick up Naruto and Gaara and looked down at his phone and made a few calls scheduling around things for the Uchiha company. He was glad he had such a good staff that they were able to handle the extra work with him gone. He still felt bad.

There was a knock at his window and Itachi told the recipient of the call that he would call them back. Kakashi was outside of his car and he was frowning. Itachi instantly knew why and was prepared to get yelled at. He hung up the phone and exited the car to give Itachi more respect than just rolling down his window.

"What the fuck, Itachi." Kakashi said finally, then paused. "It was you, right?" Kakashi examined his clothes and noticed the turtleneck. "Oh yeah, it was you. What the fuck, Itachi?"

"I honestly don't know what to say right now." Itachi said calmly.

"How about why my kid looks like he got beat up. I'm going to guess that you have similar markings?" Itachi at least had the grace to look embarrassed. "I'm waiting,"

"I really don't know what you expect me to say. Gaara tends to be a bit... eager." Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Enough of his sex preferences, aren't you two not together?"

"Well... no."

"Then why-"

"I honestly don't know."

Kakashi wanted to give a lecture but honestly, what do you say to that? How was he going to lecture them for being human and having sexual desires? He wasn't happy that they weren't together when they slept together.

"Next time you do something like this, at least make sure that you're dating." Kakashi said in a resigned tone.

"I would love nothing more than that, Kakashi. This is all him. You know how much I love Gaara." Kakashi frowned and nodded. That much was true. The amount of money Itachi shelled out for the lawyer was enough to prove just that. Kakashi paused.

"You said Gaara liked it rough, huh?" Itachi nodded slowly. Kakashi thought about all the abuse he faced. He sighed and rubbed his face. "Some abuse victims fetishize their assault. It makes sense. I don't like it though." This was just too much for Kakashi. He hoped Guy didn't notice the love bites.

Itachi hoped the love bites were all he saw. If he saw the bruising on his hips or the mark on his ass, he would likely not be as happy. To be fair though, Itachi was covered in scratch marks.

Gaara and Naruto walked out of the dojo and Gaara raised his brow at Kakashi and Kakashi gave him a stern look and walked towards him. He just shuffled Gaara's hair and walked away, thoroughly confusing Gaara but they got into Itachi's car all the same.

Itachi seemed bothered by the fact that Gaara was sitting right next to him. He was tense. He wanted more than just to be sitting next to Gaara. He got a taste and he didn't want to let that go. 

Naruto sat in the back observing them. He was close enough to Itachi to see marks on his neck too and suddenly everything made sense and he had the urge to text Lee. But should he?

***

Lee was sparing with Neji when he got a text. They needed a break so Lee looked at his phone. From Naruto.

_Uh, hey buddy. I need to tell you something._

Lee felt cold. That wasn't good. His heart was racing and he shakily texted back.

**_What?_ ** __

_I'm really sorry  
I know you don't want to hear this.  
But I gotta tell you_

Lee's heart was pounding and his saliva felt sticky. No matter how many times he swallowed it was still in his mouth and he felt like he'd drown in it. He begged for Naruto to not text him. He didn't want to know. He prayed it wouldn't be what he thought Naruto would be talking to him about. But the timing was right. Him and Gaara just got done training and Itachi picked them up. What else could it be?

_I'm pretty sure Itachi and Gaara slept together.  
Actually I'm positive they did.  
Gaara's body looks like he was beat though.  
He's like covered in bruises, I thought he got into a fight.  
Apparently not.  
I'm sorry.   
Lee?  
Are you there?_

Neji watched the expression on Lee's face completely crack. He was amazed just a text could do that. Lee just ran his fingers through his hair and his breathing was funny. He was crying, he looked about ready to scream. When Neji was able to maintain eye contact with him long enough to ask if he was okay, Lee ran off like a bat out of hell.

***

_**Gaara.** _

_Yes, Lee?_

_**I have a question.** _

_I have an answer._

_**Are you dating Itachi again?** _

_No. Why do you ask?_

_**I do not know. You have just been hanging out with him a lot. I was curious.** _

_I can promise, if Itachi and I got back together I wouldn't hide it from you._

Gaara looked down at his phone with a frown and sighed. He knew Naruto told Lee. He wondered if Lee was taking it as well as he did when he found out Sakura slept with Lee. A part of him felt bad, his mind did. Since taking the medication for depression, it numbed most of his feelings. He couldn't feel bad in his heart. He wanted to. He didn't like how emotionless he was becoming. 

Gaara stared at his bottle of antidepressants and decided not to take them. He was tired of feeling numb.

***

"You're still going?" Neji asked surprised when he walked into the room and Lee was packing a duffle bag.

"Yes. I need to see my dads. It was not just about Gaara." Lee said stiffly. Tenten looked at Neji with a frown. Neji had to ask.

"What happened?"

"Gaara and Itachi slept together." Lee said simply and continued packing.

"Isn't that a given? You said they were together for a while-"

"-Gaara was a virgin. And he is a demisexual so he only wants sex when he's with someone he loves." Lee cut him off and shook his head. "So he loves Itachi that much. I will be fine." 

Tenten and Neji gave each other another look of confusion. This Lee was a lot different. He was dismissive and short with his words. They didn't like it at all.

"I will see you on Monday." Lee grabbed his packed bag and left the room and the room had never felt so cold.

***

It turns out withdraws from antidepressants were an actual thing and Gaara should not have stopped taking them. That being said, Gaara didn't regret it at all. He was himself again. He had emotions. When he saw Itachi, he had a weird feeling in his stomach. A mixture of longing and regret. He wanted Itachi, but at the same time he knew it was stupid because he wouldn't be able to love anyone as much as he loved Lee.

And Lee... Lee was almost completely cold to him since he found out. Gaara wasn't surprised about it. He should've seen it coming, it just sucked to see.

Since Lee left home, Gaara grew a bit. He was taller, only slightly. He was more muscular. His hair was longer, and honestly he felt different as a person.

"There he is!" He heard Guy yell and Gaara glanced at his closed door in confusion. 

"How was the drive down?" Kakashi asked.

"It was okay." Lee's voice drove a dagger into Gaara's heart. He forgot how to breathe. His nerves were completely messed up and he couldn't help himself, He opened his door and ran downstairs.

Lee. Lee was there. He was taller too. He had a muscle shirt on so his arms were on full display, he really worked hard on his arms. His hair grew too. Lee had it parted down the middle and the ends curled up. Gaara wanted to cry. Lee was here. 

"Lee." Gaara said breathlessly. Kakashi looked over at Gaara curiously. Gaara had been acting strange the past few days. Now that Lee was here, it seemed even more strange. Gaara would never usually run down the stairs. Gaara rarely had an expression on his face that earnest. Gaara even looked like he might cry. 

"Hello, Gaara." Lee gave Gaara an awkward smile and the fact that Lee didn't try to hug him hurt. "Did you have a plan for the weekend?" He asked his dads.

"There was something we had to do today, we have a meeting with someone. Other than that, we're all good. Can't wait to spend time with you!" Guy said jovially. 

"I feel the same. When are you two leaving?"

"You actually have terrible timing. We were getting ready to leave now." Kakashi said with a frown. He didn't know if he should leave the two home together. There looked to be tension. He knew almost instantly it was because of Itachi. Kakashi didn't understand how the same person could be such a blessing and a curse at the same time.

"Yeah, we gotta go. Itachi is here." Guy said and Kakashi nodded. Gaara furrowed his brow.

"Itachi? What are you two doing with Itachi?" He asked and Kakashi just smiled.

"It's something with his business. Don't worry. We'll be back soon." They waved and put their shoes on and left.

They left Lee and Gaara in the kitchen alone. Lee didn't really speak. It was new. It was upsetting and it destroyed Gaara.

"Lee-"

"Sorry. I need to put this in my room." Lee quickly ran to his room, avoiding speaking with Gaara. It just hurt too badly.

What he didn't expect, was for Gaara to follow him. Gaara was a lot less dismissive off his medication and he wanted to talk to Lee. Gaara pushed Lee's door opened and closed it behind him. Lee sighed and sat in his desk chair. Gaara sat across from him on the bed and stared at him.

"Gaara..." Gaara frowned at him.

"I know you know." Gaara said and Lee couldn't stop himself from tearing up. "Please, talk to me."

"Why?" Lee asked. "Why wait until now? Why not before when you were dating?" Gaara understood the question in the way Lee meant it. Why did he have sex with Itachi when he could've slept with Lee? Why get up Lee's hopes that they broke up only to sleep with him anyway? Gaara only had one answer. That was just because it's what he wanted to do.

"You aren't here, Lee. You don't understand everything that happens in my life anymore. You're in college 6 hours away. You made your choice already. You seem to be having a fine time at college anyway. Neji? Is that his name? The one that called me?" Lee frowned at the entire sentence. He didn't know which part to respond to first.

"I wanted to better myself, Gaara. For YOU! I could not stand by and watch you with Itachi anymore! I love you! Neji is my friend! He called you by mistake! There is nothing going on between us, although I do wonder how you even know his name. I have not talked about Neji." Lee stared Gaara down and Gaara just looked at him with a perked brow.

"You have pictures with him on Instagram. Or do you forget that I follow you on that. And at least now you know how it felt when I was with you and Sakura." Lee ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"No. No I do not know, actually. I told you what happened with Sakura and I. I regretted it. Do you regret sleeping with Itachi?" Gaara's face expression remained unchanged.

"You don't want me to answer that." Gaara said honestly. He wasn't going to lie anymore. Everything had to come out. He was done. 

"Tell me to my face. Maybe then I will be able to get over you and not have to deal with this pain anymore of you ignoring me and sleeping with your ex-boyfriend." Lee was crying more now. It was strange to see. He was so muscular and he looked so different but he was still the same, sensitive Lee.

"I don't want you to get over me, Lee. I want to be with you."

"I am inclined to disagree with you, Gaara. I do not feel as if you do."

"How exactly do I know you haven't slept with someone at college?" Gaara challenged, he really didn't care at this point.

"How? You do not know. It is a mystery. Except for the tiny detail that I do not want anyone else, Gaara! I wanted you!" Gaara flinched slightly at the words.

"Wanted?" Lee sniffled and rubbed his face with his arm to wipe the tears away. "Okay, Lee. If that's truly your standpoint on this, I won't push you any further." Gaara stood up from the bed and looked at Lee again. "I still love you. If you don't want me anymore, I won't fight you." As Gaara put his hand on the doorknob, Lee raised from his chair angrily.

"Do not dare put this on me, Gaara." Gaara turned to him curiously. "You were my whole life! I love you! I could have had you finally and you do this? I am heartbroken. When you were heartbroken, I let you deal with it. I did not say that I was done with everything!" Gaara frowned and faced Lee with his entire body.

"You want me to fight for you." Gaara stated and Lee didn't say anything, he just kept wiping the tears off his face. "Is that what you're saying?" Lee shrugged and sniffled.

"I-I just... I just want to feel like you want me." He said with a strained voice. Gaara walked up to him and pulled him down and kissed him. Lee was still angry, he wanted to fight the kiss but found that it was harder to deny Gaara than he would like. His arms wrapped around him and he couldn't stop himself from picking Gaara up off the ground. Gaara wrapped his legs around Lee's waist and Lee held him in place and pressed Gaara against a wall. 

"I do want you, Lee. Very badly." Lee whined at the admission and Gaara pulled him in for another kiss. 

Kissing Lee now was different. There was anger, sadness, passion, love, hate, neediness. All of that in one kiss and the only thing that ran through Gaara's mind was how he could feel such a strong spark. The spark was there. It was like someone was trying to set a fire in his heart and he couldn't count all the emotions he was feeling. He just drowned in them and tried to get as close to Lee as he could. 

Lee was melting into the kiss. His body was on fire, every inch of his skin felt hyperaware of Gaara's presence. He almost couldn't believe he had Gaara pinned to his wall, and his tongue down Gaara's throat. Everything seemed surreal. As angry as Lee was, he felt like a lot of his anger was being taken out by just kissing Gaara. He was sure this wouldn't change his hurt feelings or his broken heart but it was enough to just get out his desire. 

Lee was hard and aching in his pants. He could feel Gaara's erection press against his stomach and had to pull away from the kiss so he could breathe evenly. He held Gaara tightly and walked over to the bed and dumped him on it. Gaara laid sprawled out and looked at Lee with curious eyes. Lee crawled onto the bed and hovered over Gaara, looking down at him.

"I want you." He whispered and rubbed Gaara's cheek.

"Then have me." Gaara said, just as softly. Lee kissed Gaara's lips lightly and Gaara's arms wrapped around Lee's neck and held him closer. It was nice to smell Lee again, even though his smell altered slightly since being in college. 

When Lee pulled away, he slowly removed his shirt and then started to work on Gaara's. Gaara was confident enough in the bruising that it would be gone by this point. He was curious to see if Lee could make him finish. They never touched each other. The only person that made Gaara cum was Itachi and it was only when Itachi was really rough with his body. Lee though had a different advantage.

Gaara was hopelessly in love with him and everything about Lee drove him crazy. Gaara let his fingers run down Lee's chest and eyed him with lust. Lee really was fit and man, was he sexy. Gaara loved his hair. He let his fingers play with it. Still silky soft like normal. Lee ran his fingers through Gaara's hair and smiled into the kiss. Gaara's hair felt so nice. They pulled away and Lee tugged at Gaara's pants and Gaara's heart was racing as he pulled them off. Gaara wasn't wearing any underwear so Lee was met with his erection and Gaara propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the expression on Lee's face. Lee reached out to touch Gaara's cock and gave it a stroke and Gaara felt like he'd finish right then. 

Lee leaned down and gave it a lick along the side and tasted the pre-cum on the tip of Gaara's cock. He always wondered what Gaara tasted like. Lee licked up the rest of it and felt Gaara throb under his touch. The realization that he was doing this with Gaara hit him again and he felt strangely emotional. He pushed past it and pulled off his own pants and dropped them next to Gaara's discarded pants. Gaara pushed Lee away from him so he could move enough to shift on the bed. Lee was laying down with his hair splayed on the bed under him. He looked so good. Gaara couldn't help himself and leaned down and took Lee's length into his mouth and let his tongue flick the slit of Lee's cock. Lee made such a sweet whining sound and Gaara sucked as he slowly pulled Lee's cock out of his mouth. Lee couldn't handle it anymore and sat up and kissed Gaara a bit more aggressively than he normally would have. 

"I want you." He whispered again and noticed how Gaara spread his legs and Lee whimpered at the sight. Lee jumped off the bed and ran to his dresser and fumbled through the bottom drawer and pulled out a half empty bottle of lube. Gaara smirked at the bottle and Lee blushed and climbed on the bed. "What do I do?"

"Put it on your cock and fuck me." Gaara said and noticed the way the crass language effected Lee. 

"I thought there was more to it than that." Gaara shook his head. He didn't want the prep. He just wanted Lee. Lee nodded. "Okay." He poured some lube in his hand and stroked himself until he was coated in lube. Gaara watched it with interest. He loved the sight of Lee touching himself. 

Lee navigated on the bed and lines himself up with Gaara's puckered hole with assistance from Gaara and when Lee saw Gaara nod, he slowly pushed himself in. Gaara mentally cursed at himself for not being on top. He could've had it completely in already. 

Lee breathed out slowly as he pushed himself inside. He noticed a lack of pain in Gaara's expression so figured he was able to push in faster. When he was completely inside of Gaara, he took a minute to really examine the situation. He couldn't believe after all this time that he was finally having sex with Gaara. They hadn't even done anything really and the pleasure was intense. It wasn't that they were doing anything, just the fact that he was doing it with Gaara. God, did he love Gaara. He loved him so much it ached. Lee leaned over Gaara's body and wrapped his arms tightly around him and kissed his forehead and cheek, then let his face rest pressed against the side of Gaara's. 

"I love you, Gaara." Gaara felt something wet on his cheek and when he shifted away from Lee enough to see his face, he saw Lee was crying.

"I love you too, Lee." Gaara said and cupped the side of Lee's face. He really did love that man. More than anything. Gaara realized having sex with Lee wasn't really about being fucked. Lee would never fuck him. Lee wanted to make love to him. And as Lee peppered Gaara's chest and face with kisses, he realized that he liked it that way. He pulled Lee's face back up to his own and covered Lee's mouth with his own. He felt the tears and just wiped them away. Lee began to move inside of him but Gaara wasn't paying attention to that at all. Just the kiss between him and Lee. Everything was perfect in that moment. There was no heartache. There was nothing. Just Gaara and Lee. 

"You are so beautiful." Lee said quietly and kissed Gaara's tattoo. Gaara had to wipe away Lee's tears and Lee smiled sheepishly. "I am sorry." Gaara shook his head and felt himself get choked up too. Lee kissed his cheeks as Gaara's tears fell.

"I'm sorry Lee. I'm so sorry." Lee shook his head and held Gaara's body as tightly as he could. He wanted to be as close to Gaara as he could be. He kissed Gaara's neck and made soothing noises in Gaara's ear. They rocked together at the same slow pace. It was comfortable. It wasn't needy. It was just... love. Gaara didn't want it to end. He just wanted Lee always with him. Like this. Without a care in the world, just wrapped up in his arms. Lee felt the pleasure of having sex with Gaara, but found he mostly loved the intimacy of making love to him. His hands slowly ran along the sides of Gaara's body and he kissed Gaara tenderly. He wiped the tears away and eventually Gaara stopped crying. 

Lee was amazed he made it this long without finishing. He knew he was close. He had been for a while. He tried not to pay attention to it but finally he kept kissing Gaara's face over and over again. Gaara knew what was happening. Lee was biting his lip hard trying to stop himself from finishing, not wanting the moment to end. He even ceased the movements. Gaara wrapped his legs around Lee and started rocking his hips again and Lee moaned.

"Please, Gaara. I am so close."

"I want you to finish. I want you to finish inside me." Gaara admitted and Lee came instantly. The pleasure was too much. He couldn't handle anything touching his cock. He almost completely pulled out of Gaara but forced himself not to. He really didn't want to break this closeness. 

Eventually he became too soft and slid out of Gaara easily. He looked down at Gaara's hole and saw his cum leak out and bit his lip again. Lee looked at Gaara's face. He was perfect. He examined Gaara's body. It was beautiful. Gaara was perfect. So perfect.

Lee leaned over and kissed every inch of Gaara's body. When Lee made it to Gaara's thighs, he kissed and sucked on Gaara's inner thighs and held Gaara's hips down to stop him from bucking up. Gaara watched Lee in-between his legs and it was torture to watch him lick, kiss and suck everywhere but where he wanted him to. 

When Lee finally decided he was done teasing Gaara, he gave another lick up Gaara's cock, making sure to suck off all of the pre-cum. Gaara shivered at the contact and Lee gave a tentative suck to the head of Gaara's cock and let his tongue trace along the vain down to the base. Gaara's fingers threaded into Lee's hair and he yanked on Lee's hair each time Lee sent a wave of pleasure over him. It didn't take very long for Gaara to finish. Lee was surprised with how strong Gaara was, he was tugging at Lee's hair with both hands and practically shoving himself down Lee's throat. Lee liked the aggression. 

Gaara came. He moaned more than he normally did and he was loud. Lee swallowed Gaara's load and pulled away, giving one last kiss to Gaara's cock. Gaara trembled at the touch and he was shaking at the orgasm. Lee covered them both with a blanket and cuddled up next to Gaara and Gaara pressed his face against Lee's chest.

"Lee, I love you so much." Gaara admitted and found himself getting choked up again. He really wished he didn't stop taking his medication.

"I love you too, Gaara. No matter what happens." Lee admitted and rubbed Gaara's back. 

Gaara clung to Lee like a lifeline. He didn't realize how much he missed Lee. He closed his eyes and just thought of the first time they met. When they were in the hallway and Lee helped him pick up his books. Or the first time Gaara gave Lee a cinnamon roll. Teaching Lee in the kitchen. Going apple picking. Just every moment he could think of that led to this one. There was still hurt, yes. But for now they both ignored it. Lee was holding him tightly and Gaara was able to smell Lee for the first time. 

The aching thought that Lee would be going back to school still gnawed at the back of Gaara's mind. The fact that they would not survive a long distance relationship bothered him too. Gaara wondered how many things they would have to go through in order to finally be together and be happy.

As much as it bothered him, Gaara knew he would go through anything to be with Lee. He just couldn't help but wonder what "anything" would be from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaaay *throws confetti* they had sex finally!
> 
> I hope y'all don't think that's it for the drama drama!
> 
> 1) How was the scene? Was it everything you hoped it would be?  
> 2) I have a tendency to make the boys flawed, who are you on the side of right now?  
> 3) I honestly want to write a PWithP story. And there's so many couples I want. Let me know if anyone is interested! If so, once Mama is done I'm going to start writing it. (*It will be a prison AU. I'm not sure who's a guard and who's a prisoner but no one will really be innocent *coughifyouknowwhatimeancough* I do want Gaara to be a prisoner and Lee to be his new cellmate and I def. wanted Itachi to be a guard... Okay I'm done fantasizing now. Let me know if I do write it, who you'd like to see together! (There likely won't be specific couples. I don't know that anyone will be dating since it'll just be a sex story.) )


	58. Chapter 58

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family times.  
> Friend times.
> 
> This chapter is just filler and happy times to get us through the rough times ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Rae** : I'm glad I was able to write it to be that emotional! And I'm glad you could make the association. Good luck with your therapy degree. As for the prison AU right now it's like everyoneXgaara (So far I have Itachi, Madara and Lee. I have such a gross crush on Madara tbh.)  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Glad to see you're back! I'm so glad you feel the same way about Gaara and Itachi. I love them so much. I need to write a Gaara Itachi fic I just don't know what to write.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : First of all, thank you for all your comments. It was wonderful to read them and remind myself where the story started out. It's been a hell of a long ride and I'm glad you were able to enjoy it with us. I know it's long and it's tough at times, but you got through it, so welcome! (And honestly he could just sleep with both of them and date neither lmao. I won't do that because that isn't the story, but in theory I could do it.) Also, you were commenter 350 so you can pick out a oneshot. Just tell me the pairing and the premise of it. (You've read the KakashixGuy one shot that was recommended by a reviewer. You could do one for this universe or you could ask for another universe or whatever pairing you want. Just let me know! Thank you for commenting!)  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I don't want it to end either. If I didn't say there was more to come with loose ends needed tying, I could've totally left it at last chapter. It seemed kind of final, didn't it? I got emotional.  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Oh my darling! I'm so sorry you're going through all that! If you need absolutely anything, let me know! Even if it's just to talk! I'm glad you were able to get caught up. Gaara was my favorite character the second I saw him. I think I was about 11 years old too, actually. I can't remember for sure lol. I literally hate reading sex scenes. I will rarely read them, I usually skip them. They make me uncomfortable. For god knows what reason, I don't mind writing them. Writing them is kinda fun. Reading them is not idk. I'm weird. But I'm glad you were able to get through it. Haha I'm glad you're getting positive flashbacks with Mama. It's a sweet story to write. Especially when I just write kind of what my daughter does. (although Metal is turning two in the next chapter and my daughter won't be two for another 5 months so it may be tricky to write. I don't really know how two year olds act besides they're assholes lol. And I agree with you on the ABO verse. A lot of them are grossly rapey. That's why Gaara and Lee have the dynamic they do. I hate alphas in ABO stories because they're just... gross. I didn't want that for my lovelies.
> 
>  **On a side note**  
>  It's HYSTERICAL that NO ONE is on Lee's side. Everyone is on Gaara's side and it just makes me laugh because he's such a ho right now (I mean I'm down for it. Get some, Gaara) but still I thought I'd have people like "Well lee was a dick at the beginning but Gaara is a dick now #TeamLee but y'all are like "Gaara, baby, murder everyone. You're doing great, sweetie" Y'all are too much! Haha

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Kakashi and Guy got home an hour later to a quiet house. The meeting with Ms. Senju was not a happy one, but this time Temari was there too with even more documentation. It was a very emotional meeting and Itachi wound up seeing part of one of the videos and actually threw up. It was stressful. 

Kakashi was honestly surprised that Itachi didn't insist on coming inside all things considered. He supposed Itachi thought against it when he realized he couldn't keep calm if he saw Gaara so soon after seeing the new video Temari had. Kakashi was thankful he had enough sense to walk out of the room before the video started. Guy also didn't pay attention too much, he did catch a glimpse. Temari was crying. It was just a terrible time. All Guy wanted to do was wrap Gaara up in a blanket and cuddle him like a baby.

"That was tough." Guy said quietly as they took off their shoes. Kakashi nodded. "I don't understand who can do something like that..."

"Neither do I. Let's just hope we don't run into Rasa ever again and we can stay out of jail." Guy scoffed.

"Jail? No. If I saw Rasa I would be going to prison." Kakashi's eyes widened a fraction. That was so unlike Guy to even say he didn't know how to respond. Guy was so angry. Kakashi hugged him, feeling thankful that he didn't see the clip that had Guy so angry. He'd seen enough of the abuse. The only saving grace is they got confirmation from Temari that there was absolutely no sexual abuse. Small victories.

"Are you going to be okay? Should we take a ride?" Kakashi asked and Guy ran his fingers through his hair.

"I just... I need to go for a run or something." Guy grabbed Kakashi's face and pressed a firm kiss on Kakashi's lips. "I love you, Kakashi. Thank you for not being a terrible human being."

"I love you too, Guy." Kakashi said softly, and held Guy's arm while Guy's hands were still cupping his cheeks. "Thank you for being the best person." Guy gave Kakashi another kiss and even without changing into his obnoxious spandex, Guy was out of the door to take a run.

It was only 6pm so it wasn't too late. The sky was getting darker earlier so the house was gloomy. Kakashi suddenly realized that Lee was home. He couldn't hear Lee or Gaara. Did they go somewhere? If they did, Lee's car was still there. Kakashi pushed his eyebrows together in confusion and walked up the stairs. He saw Gaara's bedroom door opened and he peeked inside and Gaara's room was immaculate minus his desk which it seems he was working at. 

Lee's bedroom door was closed and Kakashi grabbed the handle and paused. He could see the light was on from the crack under the door. They were either in the room or Lee left his light on which was possible. He listened closely for any noise, and couldn't hear anything so he opened the door slowly. Since Lee's bed was directly across from the bedroom door, Kakashi had to open the door completely in order to actually see the entire room.

Lee was laying on his back with his arms opened and Gaara was laying on his chest, curled up under Lee's arm. They were knocked out and Kakashi was surprised he didn't hear Lee snoring. Both of them were without shirts and when Kakashi looked at the floor he noticed that unless they decided to pick out an outfit to throw on the floor, they were also without pants, underwear and socks. Kakashi blinked a few times and didn't really know how to process this. He closed the door and walked downstairs into the kitchen. He grabbed himself a beer from the fridge and sat on the couch.

Thirty minutes later, Guy walked into the house. Kakashi was done with his beer and he was sitting in the dark living room. He had yet to hear noise from Lee's bedroom so assumed Gaara and Lee were both sleeping still. Guy walked into the living room when he saw his husband's foot in the stream of light that came in through the opened archway leading from the kitchen. He turned on the light and Kakashi winced.

"Are you okay?" He asked and sat down. Kakashi looked over at Guy and just laughed. "What?"

"You owe me $20." Kakashi said and Guy raised his eyebrow.

"Which bet did you win now?"

"I walked in on some naked cuddling upstairs. You were convinced they wouldn't sleep together until Gaara graduated high school. I called it. Pay up." Guy groaned and pulled out his wallet and handed his husband the money.

"Damn it, Lee. Couldn't keep it in your pants for another 8 months?" Guy mumbled and then joined Kakashi with the laughter.

***

Lee walked downstairs wearing pants, but no shirt and he was rubbing his eyes. He saw his parents sitting next to each other on the couch, Kakashi had his legs across Guy's lap and they were eating popcorn and drinking beer.

"When did you guys get home?" He asked tiredly. The clock on the wall said 7:34.

"An hour and a half ago-"

"Damn it Lee, your grounded!" Guy announced and Lee blinked a few times with wide eyes.

"What did I do?" He asked innocently. 

"You lost me 20 bucks to Kakashi!" Guy said with a frown. Lee continued to look confused.

"But how?"

"Oh Lee, you know exactly what you did." Kakashi said with a smirk and Lee's face and neck turned red instantly. "There we go, he gets it. Now go get Gaara and get dressed so we can go out to eat, I'm starving." Lee nodded weakly and fled the room. 

"I'm looking forward to this dinner." Guy said with mirth in his eyes.

"Oh yeah. Two awkward teenagers. It'll be great."

Upstairs, Lee hurried into his room and closed the door. Gaara was still asleep in bed. He looked so gorgeous there, tangled in the bedsheets. 

"Gaara. Wake up." Lee whispered against Gaara's ear. Gaara's eyes opened slowly and he rubbed them for a moment and blinked a few times trying to get his sight back in focus.

"Oh my god." Gaara said, looking down at himself then at Lee. "I thought for sure that was a dream."

"As long as you didn't think it was a nightmare." Lee said with a grin and Gaara pulled him in for a kiss. Lee made a surprised noise at the sudden kiss but returned it a second later. That small kiss turned into them making out for 3 minutes and the only reason Lee pulled away was because he was starting to get excited again. "Sorry. Um. I have something to tell you..."

"What happened now?" Gaara asked with a sigh. At this point he assumed bad things would happen. He just hoped they would at least be funny.

"Dad and Kakashi know we had sex." Lee wished he had Gaara's reaction recorded. His huge aqua orbs in his eyes dilated so small and his face turned bright red.

"W-what did they say?" Lee shook his head at the absurdity of it all.

"Dad said I was grounded because we made him lose a bet with Kakashi." Gaara had no idea how to respond to that at all. "They also said we need to hurry up and get ready because they would like to go out to eat. Gaara shook his head. This wasn't funny. It was tragic. And this dinner would be awful.

***

Their family dinner was not as bad as they thought it would be. It was kind of funny when everyone realized Gaara bottomed when he sat down on the hard chair at the restaurant and almost fell off his chair when he winced. Well it was funny for Kakashi and Guy. Gaara just kept his head down and Lee was mortified. 

From then on, the teasing was relentless. Lee's personal favorite was when his dad asked if they should get the clams. Kakashi insisted they shouldn't since they were a natural aphrodisiac and clearly the boys didn't need any help in that department. Gaara just hid his face behind his hands and Guy and Kakashi just laughed. Another time was when Gaara mentioned he wanted some pineapple juice and Kakashi said "I'm sure you do with the side effects it has." Well, Gaara didn't know what the side effects were so looked it up and turned red. He didn't get the pineapple juice. 

The evening ended with Gaara finally snapping.

"At least we didn't have sex on the kitchen counter." After that, all the tension was gone and everyone just burst out laughing. Guy started laughing so hard there was no sound but he was crying. 

And for a while they were happy. Lee couldn't wait to return to school to tell Neji and Tenten how everything turned out. Although, he did still have two more days.

***

When they got home they all decided to go to bed. Or Kakashi and Guy decided to go to bed and Gaara and Lee decided to sit on a bed.

"Lee, we should talk." Gaara said and Lee nodded slowly. "Now, you know I love you."

"You do not think we should be together." Lee said dully and Gaara frowned.

"I want to be with you, very much. But you're 6 hours away and you and I can both be very jealous. I really don't want to ruin this with you. I don't want us to fight over nothing. I can't lose you for the future." Lee looked down and sighed. 

"I agree." He said quietly. "I do not like it, but I agree with you. I have been trying to control my jealousy but it has just gotten worse after I left. If there is a chance that the long distance will ruin us for good, I do not want it." Gaara stayed quiet and they both just looked down at the bed not knowing where to go from here. "Can we pretend for the weekend?"

"Pretend what?"

"That we can be together." Gaara hugged Lee and Lee laid down on the bed, pulling Gaara with him. He held Gaara close to his chest.

"Please." Lee kissed Gaara's head and covered them with his blanket. For now he decided to get Gaara caught up on everything that he missed.

***

The next morning, Gaara woke up relatively early and went downstairs to make breakfast. He hadn't done that in a while. He recently found strawberry buttermilk and freaked out and wanted to make pancakes with them but never had the time. Now was as good of a time as any.

Gaara missed Ino. So very much. Now that he had Lee back for the time being, he was able to focus how much he missed her instead of just missing both her and Lee at the same time. He really needed to talk to her. He still hadn't told her about Itachi and now he had to tell her about Lee. He wondered if she would literally die.

Gaara's phone began to ring and he looked at the caller ID and saw Naruto's name. He was confused, what the hell was Naruto doing up at 6 in the morning? He answered the phone relatively quickly.

"Hello?"

"Gaara! Oh thank god! I know it's early and I'm sorry for waking you up-"

"-I've been up for an hour."

"Oh god. Gross. Anyway, even better. I need your help. Sasuke came to visit for the weekend and his car broke down and Itachi won't answer the phone. The towing company said they would be there in 2 hours but you know Sasuke, he's a priss." That was a polite way of putting it.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at home. He was on his way to see me."

"At 6 in the morning?"

"Eh, it was more of a fight."

"Oh. Understood. Okay. Let me finish what I'm doing really quick, and I'll wake up Lee."

"Whoa man! Lee is there?! How is he?! Never mind that question, actually. I'll be at your house in like 20 minutes. We can all go together." Naruto hung up the phone and Gaara blinked. Naruto was going to run to their house?

Gaara finished up the pancakes with a sigh. He really wanted to have a nice breakfast. Maybe after they all got back. He put the pancakes in the microwave, careful not to topple the tower over. He washed his dishes and unlocked the front door for Naruto and went upstairs to get dressed into warmer clothes. After, he went to Lee's room and couldn't help the smile on his face watching Lee sleep so peacefully. 

Walking over to the bed, he put his hand on Lee's leg and gently caressed all the way up to his face as he walked closer. He kissed Lee's forehead and Lee's eyes opened slowly and tiredly.

"Gaara." Lee said then grinned and pulled him down in a hug and kissed all over his face. "Every time I wake up to your face I have to remind myself that you are really here." Gaara smiled at him and Lee had to kiss him again.

Distracted by Lee's kissing, they continued to make out until Gaara heard the front door open and jerked away, remembering the reason he woke Lee up to begin with.

"Sorry. Naruto called. He's downstairs now. We need to get Sasuke, his car broke down." Lee pouted but nodded and got off the bed and put some pants on, not aware that his naked form was very much distracting to Gaara.

They went downstairs together and Naruto sat at the table and when he saw Lee, his eyes lit up.

"Lee! Man, it is so good to see you!" Naruto hugged his taller friend and Lee smiled.

"Naruto! It is great to see you as well! I am sorry it had to be so early to get Sasuke, especially when it smells like Gaara was making pancakes." Lee looked over at Gaara with a smile that Naruto was curious about. Why did Lee look so smitten? Not that Naruto cared, he was just surprised with Lee's clear goo-goo eyes after he found out Gaara slept with Itachi. There was also something different about the way they stood next to each other.

Naruto decided he didn't want to know, if only for the sake of not lying to Itachi. 

"Let's go get the princess!" Naruto announced and Gaara slipped on his boots. Naruto noticed he was wearing the Beast sweater. He walked behind the two and watched with interest. Lee opened the passenger door for Gaara and closed it before getting into the car himself. Naruto climbed into the back of the car and set his GPS, eyeing his two friends the entire time.

It took 37 minutes to get to Sasuke and when they got there, he was shivering. 

"Sorry about the wait!" Lee apologized and Sasuke didn't say anything, he just got into the car. The car was so warm. Naruto gave Sasuke his jacket and for once Sasuke didn't bitch about it, he took it gladly. Lee turned the heat up.

"Thank you for picking me up." Sasuke said, 5 minutes into the drive. "My asshole brother didn't answer the phone."

"I find that happens every time I need a ride." Gaara said dryly.

"Does this mean it's the end of the line for your mom-mobile?" Naruto asked and Sasuke glared at him. Lee giggled, feeling a happiness in his stomach at the old joke. He missed his friends. Even if it had only been two months.

"Looks like. Now Itachi has to buy me a new car." This was curious to Gaara. Itachi had so much money, why would he give Sasuke such an old car?

"Why didn't he buy you a new car before?" Gaara asked and Sasuke sighed.

"Well for one, he wanted me to have a shitty car as my first car because he didn't trust me with a nice new car."

"You did back into my mailbox. And my garage. And the curb. And the-"

"Okay Naruto! I get it! Anyway, that and it was actually the car my parents bought before they died. I don't think Itachi was ready to get rid of it. He also didn't want to drive it since he had more lucid memories in it than I do." Gaara nodded with a frown. That was just sad.

"Would you like to come to the house? I was making breakfast before Naruto called." For the first time since Sasuke got in the car, he smiled.

"Yes. Please tell me you're making pancakes. I have been dying for your pancakes."

"Yes. I made them with strawberry buttermilk." Gaara said with a hint of pride. He really was happy about finding strawberry buttermilk and would probably let everyone know that they were made with it. 

"Hah, and strawberry is Itachi's favorite fruit. Fuck you, big bro. That's what you get for ignoring my phone call. No sooner later did Sasuke's phone ring. "Jesus, does he have ESP? Hello?"

"Sasuke, I see you called. I'm sorry I left my phone in the car. Is everything alright?" Gaara's heart skipped when he heard Itachi's voice on the phone. He got an uncomfortable feeling in his gut.

"I'm fine now." Sasuke said flatly. "My car broke down on the way to Freytown. Lee, Gaara and Naruto picked me up. We're going to Lee's house for breakfast."

"Oh, I didn't know Lee was down this weekend. Tell them I said hello. I will call and arrange for a tow truck-"

"-Already did that."

"Right. Okay, I suppose we wait for the mechanic to tell us the damage and if it's too bad, I'll just buy you a car."

"Itachi, this is like the 7th time the car broke down this year. I think it's time to let go." Sasuke said and Itachi was quiet for a moment.

"You're right. Well, let me know if you need me to pick you up from Lee's house when you're done." Sasuke felt kinda bad and muted the phone so Itachi couldn't hear.

"Gaara, this is completely up to you. Do you mind if I invite Itachi? I feel really bad." The thought had Gaara's stomach twist but not in a completely unpleasant way.

"That's fine." With everything Itachi did for him, the least he could do was give him breakfast. Sasuke unmuted the phone.

"We'll be at the house in like 20 minutes if you wanted to meet us there."

"...Aren't you eating breakfast first?"

"I assumed you wanted to go."

"...Uh, is that okay with Gaara-"

"-Yes Gaara is fine. Just be there." Sasuke hung up his phone and put it in his pocket.

"You're kind of a bitch, you know that, right?" Naruto noted and Sasuke kicked him. "Just pointing it out."

Lee was tense. He had no idea how to act with Itachi around. He didn't want to be rude and say he didn't want Itachi there. Itachi was still an important person to Lee, it would just be... strange to see Gaara's and his dynamic right now. Would there be sexual tension? Would Gaara be more with Itachi than Lee? Lee was so flustered, he didn't know what to think anymore. Gaara was staring out of the window so didn't really notice and Naruto and Sasuke were bickering in the back. 

"Sasuke, stop being a dick or I swear to god I will fuck your brother and become your brother-in-law." Naruto finally snapped and Lee's eyes widened and Gaara just laughed hysterically. Sasuke glowered but the comment just made Gaara so happy. For a moment it felt like Ino was there.

When they pulled into the driveway, Gaara noticed there were too many cars. One was Itachi's and the other one was blocked by Itachi's car. Lee parked and Gaara got out of the car. Itachi was leaning against his car talking to the other person and when Gaara saw who that person was, he couldn't stop the grin on his face.

"Hey boo." Ino smiled and Gaara actually ran over to hug her. "Oh! Honey! Hello!" She hugged him back and squeezed him tight. "Sasuke said he was coming down for a visit so I thought, hey, me too. Then he text me and told me that everyone would be here. Lee didn't think you'd mind." She said with a smile and Gaara was still hugging her.

"I missed you." He said quietly and her smug grin turned into a sincere smile and she kissed his cheek.

"And I missed you too." They swayed back and forth for a minute and Gaara completely ignored the fact that Itachi was literally a foot away. Itachi didn't seem to mind. He watched them with a smile. 

Lee grinned when he saw the super hug Gaara and Ino shared. It was nice to see him that excited to see her. He didn't much care for the way Itachi was looking at Gaara though. He went inside and Ino was just babbling on and on to Gaara about something but he was genuinely happy to have her talk at him right now.

"I'll meet you inside." Itachi said with a smile. "I think you have a lot to get caught up on." Itachi went inside and Ino watched him leave and looked at Gaara with a confused expression.

"What happened...?" When Gaara's face turned pink, Ino covered her mouth and her eyes widened. "No! Oh my god! Did you?!" She whispered loudly. Gaara nodded and he didn't think Ino could shriek that loudly. She hugged Gaara and jumped up and down. "Oh my god! Oh my _GOD_! Why didn't you tell me earlier?! Oh my god. How was he? Was he good? Was he rough? Was he loving? How did he move? Which position were you in?"

"Jesus, Ino calm down you'll give yourself an aneurism." Gaara said with a smirk.

"Give me answers, you bitch!" Ino demanded shaking him a bit.

"Uh. Well. I didn't have time to tell you, honestly. Lot has been going on. But yeah. It was good. Great, even." Ino looked at him expectantly and Gaara rolled his eyes. "There was more than one position and he was really rough." Ino held her heart.

"Be still, my beating heart! How rough are we talking?"

"Naruto thought someone beat me."

"Naruto knows?! He found out first!?"

"I didn't mean to! He saw me changing. I had bruises shaped like hands on my hips and hickies all over me. Itachi's body wasn't any better." The look of mischievous glee in her eyes was intense. "But, uh... That isn't all that happened." Gaara said with a wince.

"What else could have possibly happened that's more amazing than you fucking Itachi?" Ino asked and Gaara shifted on his feet nervously. He knew Ino said she wouldn't care if he slept with both of them but really, how truthful was the statement? "Come on. Out with it. I'm dying. I'm still so excited about you and Itachi and man, I need ho stories. Please."

"I slept with Lee yesterday." Gaara admitted and if he thought she looked surprised before, she looked gobsmacked now.

"You had sex with Lee too?" She whispered and Gaara gave a nervous nod and she turned around ran her fingers through her hair and walked away for a second. She walked back in front of Gaara and her hands were on her head. "Gaara." She grabbed him by the shoulders. "You're a fucking legend, I love you. Oh my god. I have so many questions. Mainly, please tell me who was bigger." Gaara blushed. "Come on, don't be shy now. Jesus, fuck, don't be shy now." Gaara honestly had to think about it. He didn't really pay attention.

"Uh... in what way?"

"Length?"

"Oh, Lee."

"Girth??"

"Itachi." Ino was buzzing with excitement.

"Thank you for telling me Itachi has a fat cock. I can die happy."

"Well that was crass." Ino laughed and shoved him.

"Don't go clutching your pearls now, Gaara." Ino teased and hugged him again, giggling in his ear. "Oh man, I'm so proud of you. The student has almost surpassed the master." She said, stroking his hair. Gaara blinked and pulled away from her hug to look at her.

"Almost?" She just smiled and pressed him back to her chest and stroked his hair.

"Shh. You're prettier when you don't talk."

"I missed you, Ino." Gaara laughed and she grinned.

"If you try for Naruto and Sasuke we can make this week legendary." Gaara rolled his eyes. "Come on. Please? For me?"

"Might as well sleep with you while I'm at it, huh, Ino?" Gaara said dryly.

"I know I have a big dick, but not big enough for you." 

"Why do you assume I was on bottom?" He asked and she raised her eyebrow and he sighed. "Yeah you're right, I was on bottom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAAASSS INO.  
> I missed her dearly. She wasn't supposed to come back at this point. Gaara was going to call her and tell her and she was going to hang up on him immediately and he was going to be like ??? and 3 hours later she was gonna be on his doorstep with some tea.
> 
> 1) There are so many things that were changed in this story before they were even written, would anyone want to know what?  
> 2) Glad for Ino being back? (I am)  
> 3) Guy and Kakashi tho. (not really a question. Just a statement.)


	59. Chapter 59

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoyed all the smut and the humor because this chapter is just angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : Gaara had to ho for about 3 minutes, now we won't see Lee for a while and I don't know if him and Itachi are going to sleep together again. He got it while he could lol  
>  **Isis Cox** : I probably just destroyed your trust after this chapter lol. But yes, Ino is back for this chapter too. She will be gone next chapter until she visits again.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Your comment made me laugh. #Same #relatable I'm #teamgaara too since I love my bean. Lee is a precious cinnamon roll but he isn't Gaara. I love them both but Gaara is my favorite. (Then comes Itachi and Madara)  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I really hope you will appreciate last chapter more after this one lol. I try to take the element of surprise (mainly because I have no idea what I'm doing 90% of the time) SasuNaru is going through a rough patch right now. They'll fight more next chapter. They'll be okay again eventually. Just reread older chapters when it becomes too much. That's what I do.  
>  **RainiDayz** : You are indeed the minority here! Next chapter we will see Gaara dealing with everything he's done and trying to fix it but this chapter everything is just hell. I can't wait to start writing Gaara trying to get better instead of just distracting himself. He needs it. And by the way... **CONGRATULATIONS. YOU ARE THE 400TH REVIEWER** Seriously though, the fuck? Someone is literally reading the story commenting on each chapter. She was commenter 399 and 401 and you were 400. I'm dead. Really.  
>  **Rae** : there will be a fun fact at the end of this chapter!  
>  **Luna_Lilly** : Haha I was laughing while I wrote it. I love writing Ino. I'm glad I created this Ino. My babies. I love Kakashi and Guy. <3  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : I know me too. For your one shot, did you want it in this universe or in a different one? (either way I'm sure the other readers will appreciate a oneshot with our loveable dads.) Gaara was literally my favorite the second I saw him. When he was a murder child I think I died. I loved him even more. I love Gaara soso much. I could not even tell you why but I will fight anyone who says otherwise. I got to read your comments as you read the story so I'm impressed you made it this far. There was a few comments that I was like "huh, should someone warn her?" but now you're here with us and you understand the pain and it's wonderful.  
>  **Wren** : Yas, true facts. (We are all #teamIno) And yes, Rasa is totally kicking into high gear now. Thank you!
> 
> A lot of people commented last chapter! Thank you all so much! This story is getting a lot more new readers and I kind of wonder where they're coming from lol (thank you all. xoxoxo)

Chapter Fifty-Nine:

Gaara and Ino made in inside soon after and Gaara started to prepare breakfast. By this point, Kakashi and Guy were really confused how their house turned into the prime location to be at 7 in the morning on a Saturday. Guy just went into the hallway closet and got out extra chairs and the folding table. 

Ino was glued to Gaara's side the entire time they made breakfast together. She really helped by cutting all of the potatoes and onions so Gaara could concentrate on other things. She was the only one he trusted to cut things properly. Lee always cut lopsided and uneven. Ino had things very uniform.

She told him all about her roommate at college and was sad and she would prefer Gaara to be her roommate. 

While they talked, Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi and Lee all sat very awkwardly on the couch. Naruto had no idea what to do at this point. Sasuke had no idea what was going on. Lee knew Itachi slept with Gaara and felt a deep burning jealousy in his heart but he was too nice to actually let that be seen. Itachi was just awkwardly sitting because he felt weird being near Lee right now.

Itachi decided he needed to put his awkwardness aside, he really needed to speak with Lee in private on other matters.

"Lee, do you mind if I talk to you?" Itachi asked suddenly and Lee's heart raced. He wondered what Itachi had to say. "In private, if you don't mind."

"Oh. Not at all." Lee stood up. "Come on, we can go to my room." As they walked up the stairs, Lee couldn't help but feel weird that he was taking Itachi to his room where him and Gaara just slept together a few hours before. He pushed the thought out of his mind. Gaara and Ino looked curiously up at the boys disappear on to the second floor of the house.

Once they were in the privacy of Lee's room, Itachi sat down on Lee's computer desk chair and turned to face the bed where Lee sat. Lee was shaking he was so filled with nerves. What was Itachi going to talk about?

"I have to confess something, I've been doing something for a while and I need your help. I really would appreciate it if you didn't talk to Kakashi and Guy about this, they wouldn't be happy if you knew." Lee frowned. What could that even mean? "I'm sure you've noticed that Kakashi and Guy leave to go to meetings a lot the past few months, right?" Lee nodded slowly. "And that I am also there." Lee nodded again. "We are seeing an old friend of mine. Her name is Tsunade Senju and she's a lawyer. For the past... Jesus, I can't even remember how many months it's been. Let's just say around 5 months? For the past 7 months we've been building a case against Gaara's father. Do you remember when Gaara got that video tape?" Lee nodded numbly. "There's more."

"...what do you mean more? Like more of that tape?"

"More tapes with different recordings. The tape Gaara had before was just abuse he faced when he was about 6 or 7. There's tapes up to when he turned 12 or 13." Lee's eyes widened. "I would also like to add, please don't tell Gaara about any of this. There's a reason we've been sneaking around. He doesn't need to get tangled up in this right now." 

"Yes, of course. But I do not understand, what do you need me for?" Itachi sighed.

"Since Gaara saw the first video, there has been 6 Shukaku episodes that we know about. And I know for a fact that one of them was your arm." Lee absentmindedly rubbed his now healed arm. "Am I wrong?"

"...No." Lee said with a sigh. "I just did not want Kakashi and Guy to know because I did not want them to be angry at Gaara." Itachi smiled ironically.

"There isn't much Gaara could do that would make anyone angry at him, Lee. Anyway, if I could set up an appointment, even via Skype, for you to talk to Ms. Senju, that would be helpful. She is trying very hard to put together a solid case against Rasa. We have so much already but the more we have, the longer his time is."

"What would me talking about Shukaku do to help?" Lee asked.

"It would show the side effects to his father's abuse." Itachi said and looked down in his lap. 

"You saw something on the tape, didn't you?" Itachi nodded. "What did you see?"

"Have you seen anything from the video?" Itachi asked suddenly and Lee shook his head.

"I saw a few pictures, but they made me ill so I closed the album."

"If the pictures made you ill and it was just what happened after the abuse, you wouldn't be able to stomach the actual abuse."

"Did you?"

"Stomach it?" Lee nodded. "No. I threw up, actually."

"What... happened?" Itachi sighed again.

"I asked Kakashi the same thing one day. I asked him to tell me one thing that Gaara had to deal with just so I could understand the magnitude of the situation and he told me and it wasn't a pleasant story. Are you sure you want to know?" Lee nodded slowly. "Okay. I know s few stories. I will tell you one of them. Do you want to know how he got the burns or the thin scars across his back?"

"The thin scars." Lee said quietly. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to hear it. 

"Gaara was about 8 years old when he got them. They had a pool. Gaara had to stand completely submerged in the water, his head covered, everything. Each time he ran out of breath and tried to breath, his father would hit his back with a torn wire. There's more to the video but I really... I can't." Itachi covered his face and rubbed his eyes. Lee looked upset. "You can't show you're sad. Gaara can't know that you know. He probably doesn't even remember what happened."

"It is just..." Lee trailed off and Itachi agreed. 

"Lee, I'm just thankful you met him." Lee looked up.

"Why?"

"If you hadn't met him, where would he be right now? He knows all of us because of you. Would he still be sleeping on a futon at the café? Would his father be even worse? Would he even be alive? I'm just thankful that your paths crossed and you got him out of that situation."

Lee let the words wash over him and he really thought about Itachi. Yes, Lee was jealous of him. Insanely jealous of him. But here he was fighting for Gaara in a way that Lee didn't even realize. Itachi was likely that Itachi was even paying for everything since Lee knew that if there was anything Itachi would do it was literally pay for anything Gaara needed. 

"Itachi." Lee looked up and made eye contact with Itachi for the first time in a while. "I have to apologize."

"For what?" Lee bit his cheek.

"You have been in my life for so long and you have helped me so many times and I have always idolized you. When you and Gaara got together I was... jealous. Really jealous. I should not have been. I know you love Gaara, I love him too. Part of loving someone though, is knowing when to let go. I should have let go. I did not. And I am sorry. I do not know where Gaara would be if you had not come into his life. First with the piano lessons, then dating him. You have been a great boyfriend to him." Lee scratched his neck and tears filled his eyes. He blinked them away. "I am going to let go of him now. If you two get back together, I will be happy for it. Just, please. Show him how he's supposed to be treated."

"Lee..." Itachi looked at Lee with a hint of surprise. "Why?"

"You are here for him. I am not. I am at school. I am 6 hours away. You are closer. Even if you two do not get back together, please just look after him like you have been doing. He needs it now more than ever."

"I agree with you, Lee." Itachi said and frowned while scrutinizing Lee. "You're growing up."

"What do you mean?" Itachi smiled slightly.

"You are growing as a person. What you just said, it was very mature for you." Lee nodded slowly. "Even if you don't feel that way 100%, it was still a hard thing to say and I could tell you meant it at least a little bit. If you don't completely get rid of your jealousy, you will definitely dampen it."

"It has been hard dealing with it. I would like for it to be gone." Lee admitted sadly. 

"Don't be jealous of me, Lee." Itachi insisted then let out a small chuckle. "I say that like I haven't been jealous of you."

"You were jealous of me?" Lee sounded completely surprised. "Why?"

"Nothing really... Did Gaara ever tell you what our fight was about?" Lee shook his head and Itachi sighed. "Shukaku said some things about Gaara. One of them being that I should be wary of you because things were going on between you. He got under my skin enough that I went through Gaara's phone." Itachi rubbed his face in shame. "I shouldn't have done that and I'm very embarrassed about it. But Shukaku was sure I would find something and I didn't find anything." Lee was tense.

"Why would Shukaku say that?"

"I honestly don't know. But anyway, we should get going. Can't hide away from Sasuke and Naruto's bitch fest forever." Itachi stood up and gestured for Lee to leave first. Lee walked away from the bed to the door and Itachi glanced down at the floor, which was surprisingly messy for someone who just got back yesterday. There was a pile of clothes on the floor. Itachi blinked.

Were those Gaara's underwear?

***

"Sasuke, I'm just really pissed at you." Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"Naruto, you're always pissed at me. What did I do now?" Naruto rolled his eyes at that. Since when did princess Sasuke have the audacity to say someone was always pissed? That was Sasuke's only mood. Besides bitch.

"Two months you've been gone. You've visited twice. What am I? Your grandma? You only visit me once a month because otherwise you feel bad because I'm old and I'm gonna die soon but you don't want to visit me in the first place because you think I'm boring because all I do is watch soap operas while I knit afghans?" 

"Naruto, I told you I was sorry." Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto's random spiel. "College is a lot harder than I thought. I tried to finish my work to see you as soon as possible but it's a lot harder than it sounds. It would be easier if you had a car too so you could come see me some weekends."

"Where is the Sasuke that said we would see each other totally every weekend? The one who said we weren't going to be apart for longer than 5 days? I don't see you for 25 days at a time usually. I'm feeling really ignored! Then you don't even respond to my texts half the time. Am I annoying you?"

"Naruto, you always annoy me. I don't think I made that a secret." Naruto looked hurt.

"Yeah but at least you used to care if you talked to me or not. I told you that you'd go to your dumb fancy school and forget about me." Sasuke was upset.

"Don't you dare say that, Naruto." He chided. "You don't know what every day is like at my college. It's difficult and there's so much work. I think about you all the time. I-"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm done with this conversation." Naruto stood up and walked away.

***

When breakfast was finally ready, there was just such a strange atmosphere.

Gaara and Ino sat next to each other, Lee sat by Ino's side, Kakashi sat on Gaara's other side, Guy sat across from Gaara, Sasuke was next to him, Itachi was on the other end of the table next to Naruto.

Gaara and Ino were too deep into their conversation to notice anything strange. Especially the pensive expression on Itachi's face, the fact that Lee had a hard time looking at Gaara right now, That Sasuke and Naruto didn't even sit next to each other. It was just weird.

When they were done, Itachi thanked everyone but insisted he really had to leave. Gaara frowned slightly at that. Itachi hadn't spoken one word to him and then he was gone. What was on his mind? What did Lee and Itachi talk about? He'd have to ask Lee.

***

Lee still wanted to bring Gaara apple picking since the apples he liked were finally in season so he went upstairs to get dressed in something less pajama like while everyone sat downstairs talking. Gaara followed after him, insisting he had to get changed as well. 

He walked into Lee's room as Lee was changing his pants and Lee looked up at him and tried his best to not let him know that he was aware how Gaara got some of the scars on his back. He just wanted to cry.

"What happened with you and Itachi?" Gaara asked and Lee sighed and pulled up his pants.

"Nothing really. He just wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"You are really turning into Ino, aren't you?"

"Well he barely looked at me at breakfast, I wanted to make sure he was okay and you're the last person he talked to." Lee didn't want to tell Gaara what their conversation was about but he had to tell him something. 

"I just wanted to ask him to take care of you when I was gone and make sure you do okay." Gaara frowned and his eyes landed on the ground by Lee's feet. His underwear were on the floor.

"Did he bring up us having sex?" Gaara asked as he stared at the underwear on the floor.

"You told him?" Lee asked, surprised.

"No but my clothes are by your feet." Gaara pointed out and Lee looked down.

"Well..." Lee sat on the chair and just sighed. He honestly didn't know what to do with anything at this point. Why was everything becoming so difficult as of late?

***

"Can we stop here really quick? I left something in my cubby." Gaara said and Lee nodded and pulled into the café. "I'll be right back." Gaara climbed out of the car and it was awkwardly quiet with Ino, Sasuke, Naruto and Lee in the car.

Gaara walked inside and noticed it was tense. He was confused as to why. Temari or Kankuro didn't seem to be in the front, he wondered if they were even there at this point. One of the workers up front was alone. Gaara nodded his head at him and went to the kitchen.

"You need to calm down." He heard his sister demand. He walked a bit closer to the door. They were in the bathroom talking and he needed to get in the bathroom to grab something. The door was opened so it wasn't like he was spying intentionally.

"How can I calm down?" Gaara froze in place. "Do you know how ridiculous this all is?"

"If it's so ridiculous then just go to court, dad." Temari said with a glare. Gaara backed away as quietly as he could. He closed his eyes tightly when he managed to trip and bump into one of the work benches and knocked over a large can of almond paste to the floor. Temari poked her head out and saw the look of terror on Gaara's face and her eyes widened.

"Who's there?"

"No one, dad." Temari grabbed Rasa's arm to stop him from walking out of the bathroom, but Rasa was a long stronger than she was and was able to walk out and see Gaara pressed against the work bench with wide eyes and his teeth grit into a frown.

"You." Rasa hissed and he was in front of Gaara grabbing him by the shirt in seconds. "What is this?" Rasa held up a piece of paper. "I'm being taken to court for child abuse? Was this your bright idea?"

"Dad, let him go." Temari demanded and Rasa ignored her completely.

"You were lucky you had a roof over your head. Do you know how many children would kill for that? I knew you were a shitty kid but I didn't expect you to be ungrateful too." Gaara didn't say anything. His muscles felt chilled in their place. His mind was getting twisted and he winced at the loud ringing in his head.

"Dad, let go of him. Please." Temari begged and the ringing just got louder. Gaara thought his ears would bleed. It looked like everything was inverted. He couldn't see properly. It was trippy.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." The voice was wavy and distorted. Gaara wasn't sure why.

_Your fancy medicine only worked for so long._

Gaara growled at the voice in his head.

_Come on. Just let me come out. You don't need to deal with him._

Gaara twitched and noticed his body was trembling. 

"Are you fucking listening to me?" Rasa demanded and Gaara looked up at him slowly. The look of terror melted away until all that was left in his face was a grin.

"Hi dad. Miss me?" Shukaku whispered.

"There you are, demon." Rasa hissed. "No one believed me that you were possessed, but here you are. These child abuse allegations are nothing. I was just dealing with this part of you. They'll see it." Rasa said smirking, Shukaku frowned at him.

"What ever do you mean? You're the one that created me, dad." Shukaku growled. "You're the reason I'm here."

"And I let you stay here for too long."

"Let's dance then." Shukaku smirked.

***

"I will be right back. Gaara is taking a while." Lee said getting out of the car. Ino jumped out with him.

"Maybe he's talking to his sister." Temari said and the second they walked in they heard loud banging. Lee raced to the kitchen and Temari was standing on the side, holding her head in her hands watching with frightened exasperation as Rasa and Gaara fought.

"Oh my god!" Ino shouted and Shukaku grabbed Rasa by the throat and threw him down on the ground. He laughed and pinned Rasa down on the ground, his eyes were narrowed and crazy. 

"Shukaku." Lee said slowly and Shukaku stared up innocently while he squeezed around Rasa's neck. "Let Gaara back, okay?"

"Oh, no. I don't think I will. Gaara gave up. He's much too scare of Rasa." In a show of dominance, Shukaku leaned over and gave a long lick to Rasa's cheek while staring Lee down. Rasa's face was turning blueish. 

"Don't kill him, Shukaku. Gaara won't be able to handle that." Lee insisted and walked towards him slowly.

"What the fuck do you know?" Shukaku asked, looking offended. "You don't even know what he did to me!" Shukaku dug his fingers into Rasa to get a better grip to lift his head up and slam it back down on the ground. "Why don't you tell them, dad?! What did you do to me?! Tell them!" Shukaku let go of Rasa's neck and Rasa gasped in a breath, color returning to his face.

"Nothing you didn't deserve, demon." He spat with a coarse voice. "I'd do it all over again if I could." Shukaku went to punch him but Lee was by his side in an instant and pushed him to the floor.

"LEE GET OFF OF ME! HE DESERVES TO DIE!" Shukaku howled and Lee just held him as tightly as he could.

"I know, Shukaku." Lee said as calmly as he could. "But not by your hands. You know it would destroy Gaara if he killed someone."

"Not him." Shukaku said dangerously lowly. "Let me kill him."

"No." Lee insisted and Shukaku thrashed against Lee's hold.

"You're a lot stronger than when I broke your arm, aren't you?" Shukaku noted, breathing a bit heavily after unsuccessfully being able to get away from Lee.

"He broke your arm, huh? I told you he was a demon." Lee scowled.

"Do not talk about him that way. Why are you even here?"

"I own the place! Temari, where did you get this cheeky shit anyway?" Rasa asked, standing up. "I would have hoped this loser would've realized that Gaara isn't worth anyone's time. Even his."

"You may insult me all you would like, but I would greatly appreciate if you refrain from insulting Gaara. I am the only person who is holding Shukaku back, after all." Lee said with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's really trying to get out of your arms. Probably a wet dream of his, the faggot." Temari's face flushed with anger and Lee was stunned.

"Don't talk about my best friend like that!" Ino yelled. "I will make you regret it!"

"You?" Rasa eyed Ino with distaste. "Not sure what kind of damage you could do, but you can shout big words. You just look like a hussy." Shukaku's cheeks flared.

"You insult Ino? You will die by my hand twice." Ino was strangely touched at that. Even Gaara's evil side liked her. Aw.

"Have I misjudged you?" Rasa asked curiously. "I thought Gaara was gay. Do you have a thing for Ino?"

"Well, Gaara doesn't." Shukaku winked at Ino and Ino's face actually turned bright red and Lee's grip tightened. "Don't be jealous, big guy." Shukaku teased, looking up at Lee. "You're more of Gaara's type than mine."

"Shukaku, just let Gaara come back. I will not let you go until you do." Shukaku frowned.

"You're no fun." He stared Rasa dead in the eyes. "You better watch it. I will come for you. I promise." Gaara's body fell limp in Lee's arms and Lee sat down slowly in order to grab hold of him better. He pulled Gaara into his lap and held him cradled. 

"You should let me kill the demon." Rasa began. He went to continue, but Ino walked over to him and examined his neck and shoulder. "What are you doing?" She jabbed her fingers hard into a spot and he fell over unconscious. 

"H-how did you...?" Ino frowned as she looked at Rasa on the ground.

"I may not know karate but I know a lot of pressure points and he was really pissing me off." Ino turned to Temari. "What are we doing with him?" Temari picked up her phone.

"I'll have Yashamaru and Kankuro bring him home. I'm so sorry I just I don't even know how to deal with this. Please, get Gaara out of here." Lee nodded and stood up, cradling Gaara still and him and Ino walked to the car.

"What happened?!" Naruto asked loudly and Lee's face was hardened.

"Nothing Naruto. Sasuke, can you or Ino drive so I can sit in back with him?" Sasuke nodded and hopped out of the car. Ino shoved Naruto out of the back seat into the front so she could sit in back with Gaara too.

"When will he wake up?" Ino asked and Lee shrugged with a sigh.

"I do not know. He is on his medication so he shouldn't have had an episode like that. I suppose his dad just really stresses him out. He is lucky I had to stop Shukaku or I do not think I would have been able to control my own anger." Naruto listened to the hushed conversation curiously and wondered if any of this would mean anything to Itachi.

***

When Sasuke pulled into Lee's driveway, Lee and Ino both hurried out of the car and ran inside. Sasuke looked curiously at Naruto.

"I have to make a phone call. I'll be there in a minute." Sasuke nodded slowly and Naruto watched him go inside and called Itachi.

"What, Naruto?"

"Hey, I don't know much about Gaara, but something apparently happened at the café. I didn't hear much about it. Just a few words. I got Gaara was on medication. He shouldn't have an episode. Something about his dad and a guy named Shukaku. Does that mean anything to you?" Itachi stayed quiet. "Itachi?"

"I have to go." Itachi hung up and Naruto frowned at the phone. What was even going on anymore?

***

After Lee was able to lay Gaara on the bed, he told his parents what happened, not even noticing that Sasuke was also in the room. Lee was stroking his fingers through Gaara's hair and Ino was watching his stomach rise and fall with each breath. She held his hand tightly and wanted to cry. She wasn't even sure to the extent of what she witnessed but she didn't like it.

Guy left the room and came back with smelling salts and they woke up Gaara. He didn't wake up as violently this time. His eyes just snapped open and he looked at the ceiling. He saw Lee was to the right of him and he felt a softer hand on his own hand, softly rubbing it soothingly. He tilted his head up and saw Ino, Sasuke, Kakashi and Guy.

"What happened?" His voice felt raw.

"We saw your dad, Boo." Ino said softly. "Shukaku doesn't like him very much."

"Oh." Gaara laid his head back down on the pillows and stared at the ceiling. "Yeah. He told me to let go and I did."

"I don't blame you." Kakashi said and Gaara felt his weight dip on the end of the bed. "I would've wanted to strangle him too."

"Is Rasa ok?" Gaara asked tonelessly.

"Yeah. Lee stopped Shukaku from killing him and Ino knocked him out." Guy said quietly.

Gaara didn't say anything. His body felt too light. Like he was floating or something. He didn't feel grounded to the earth. He suddenly just wanted Itachi. He remembered the pain of having sex with Itachi and wanted that. He wanted all the hurt. He wanted to feel like he was still there. Nothing felt real at this point and when he saw the bruises and marks before, he knew he was there. He wanted to hurt himself. He kept his mouth firmly shut and just stared at the white ceiling. Lee's fingers were still running through his hair and the action was calming, plus Ino was still rubbing his hand. 

His eyes felt tired and they burned he looked at Lee for a while as his eyes became too heavy to keep opened anymore and he fell asleep.

"We know he's okay now. Let him sleep." Kakashi insisted and everyone but Ino and Lee left the room.

"Will he be okay though?" Ino whispered and looked up at Lee. Lee was staring at Gaara's face.

"I do not know for sure, but I really hope he will be." He said and sat on the floor next to Ino, his hands still in Gaara's hair. "Gaara needs Itachi now more than anything."

"Why do you say that?" Ino asked and Lee looked at her.

"Besides my dads, he's the only one stable in Gaara's life. We're in college hours away. He needs someone to lean on right now. He needs a crutch."

"I agree..." Ino laid her head on the bed and stared at Lee, Lee looked back at her. "Gaara told me about you two." Lee blushed and nodded his head. He wasn't surprised. "He loves you."

"I love him too, Ino." She nodded and looked up at Gaara's sleeping form. "I just love him enough to let go."

"Do you think that's what he wants?" Lee was quiet. 

"Even if he does not want to date Itachi, I think a friendship with him will help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  Since everyone loves Ino, I figured this fun fact would be about Ino!  
> Originally, Ino was not in the story. If you read the earlier chapters when Lee is looking at the cubbies, it says there is another baker but it never says who that is. It was originally supposed to be Hinata! I changed it to Ino because Ino is more overbearing and she was brought in to actually irritate Gaara in the kitchen. They eventually became the BFF duo we know and love today. (Just imagine the story without Ino. BFF Hinata and Gaara would be cute but... Ino.)
> 
> 1) I'm glad everyone loves my girl (Even Shukaku! Hahahaha. Did that surprise anyone else?)  
> 2) How do you think Itachi is going to react to the news?  
> 3) Gaara is going to start seeing a therapist, care to guess who it is? :)  
> 4) Did I make anyone else start shipping Gaara/Itachi because that was an accident. (That'll be next chapter's fun fact!)


	60. Chapter 60

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just long enough to drop a bomb on y'all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Rae** : I love Hinata too! She comes in soon! Don't worry, Shukaku won't be around often enough (especially around Ino) to create a problem. That sounded oddly specific, are you ok?  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : They do. I know I love her. Proud to make you ship Gaara/Itachi.  
>  **MirSama** : Do you mean I made you start shipping Gaara and Itachi? I can't imagine you read this longass story with the main pairing Gaara/Lee like "ugh I guess" lmao. And When Gaara talks to his therapist you will learn more on why he does what he does.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Oh yeah, definitely. I was just referring to like "well now I ship Gaara/Itachi I guess I'll look for more stories with them" (spoiler alert, there's like 3 stories.) I'm glad you're seeing Lee's development! Soon we'll see Gaara's! I do have an idea for the oneshot if you'd like it in this universe. We can have a flashback oneshot of them in college!  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Hahahahaha yeah I do update too fast. My B. Anyway, I honestly didn't plan on Itachi dating anyone else. I mean I might anyway because everyone is mad at me for hurting our cinnamon roll Itachi, but I can't see him jumping from one relationship to another. Right now he's hurt and earlier he said that he hadn't been in a relationship for 4 years because he didn't want to get hurt again and he did so it'll be hard to have him date someone. Maybe though! I'll try!

Chapter Sixty:

A few days after the incident, Itachi reached out to Gaara.

They sat down and had a talk, Itachi kept the thoughts of Gaara and Lee together in the back of his mind. There were more important things to talk about right now than that. Right now, he wanted to get Gaara in therapy.

They sat on Gaara's bed, Itachi stopped by and talked to Kakashi and Guy about talking to Gaara already. They let him up and Itachi and Gaara sat in an awkward silence for a minute before Itachi could formulate his sentence eloquently.

"Gaara, I know you're trying to get better and I was thinking, I know a lot of really good doctors and maybe you could talk to one of them?" Gaara stared at Itachi for a minute.

"You are referring to therapy, are you not?" Itachi frowned and nodded slowly. He hoped Gaara wouldn't take offense to his idea. "I was considering..."

"That is fantastic, Gaara. I think it will be really good for you. To talk to someone without any bias to just get everything off your chest." Gaara nodded slowly.

"Yeah. I guess."

"Gaara, don't feel bad if you decide to go. Don't think of yourself as weaker for wanting to talk to someone. I saw a therapist for years. I would still see one if I had the time. They're very good to have." Gaara looked up curiously.

"You went to see a therapist?" Itachi nodded and in his mind he smiled at the child-like mindset Gaara had.

"Yes I did. I really needed to talk to someone after my parents were killed. Then after that it was just nice to just talk. And it made me happy when I sat down and my therapist would ask me how someone was doing, like he remembered what I said while I talked and didn't just sit there ignoring me. I really think you'll like it." Gaara nodded slowly.

"Okay."

"Would you like me to schedule an appointment?" Gaara smiled thankfully. Itachi knew him too well. Gaara was very anxious on the phone. "Yes, please." The amount of doctor/dentist/whatever appointments Itachi made for Gaara was laughable. Itachi knew Gaara's social security number better than Gaara did.

Itachi raised up from the bed and gave Gaara another smile.

"Well, I will see you later, okay?" Gaara frowned.

"Where are you going?" Itachi didn't expect Gaara to be so against him leaving.

"I'm just going home." Itachi said and Gaara looked sad for a second but the expression was masked instantly after.

"Oh. Okay. Thank you for stopping by." Itachi frowned at that. Gaara really was lonely since everyone left. It was a tough few days for everyone. Itachi was just thankful for everyone else that he was such a pacifist and didn't really enjoy conflict or fighting of any kind. This could have gone a lot worse. "Are you okay?"

"Not really." Itachi said honestly. "But I will survive."

"What's wrong?" Gaara asked earnestly and Itachi wanted so badly to just fall back into a comfortable routine with Gaara. Those aquamarine eyes really captured him each time he looked into them. Itachi gave Gaara a tight smile.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with, Gaara. Feel better." Itachi left the room and Gaara stared at him with a look of hurt confusion.

***

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Itachi asked, opening his front door. He jiggled the doorknob curiously, sure that he'd locked the door when he left. How did Naruto get on his couch?

"Sasuke." Naruto grumbled and Itachi frowned and removed his shoes, walking into the living room and sitting next to the friend he was forced with.

"What about Sasuke?" Itachi asked and Naruto groaned.

"He's just such an asshole and I just can't deal with it right now. How did you deal with it your entire life?" Naruto asked and Itachi smirked.

"I just ignore him when he throws his daily bitchfit."

"Daily? It's fucking hourly now." Naruto threw himself dramatically on the couch. "He's so stressed out about school because his schedule is like super full and whatever but that isn't my fault! You can talk to me like without screaming at me, ya know? I just... I want him back. I don't like the dumb school he's at. He should come home and go to college with me and he wouldn't be so stressed and he wouldn't yell all the time. I just want my best friend back." Itachi nodded sympathetically.

"It's almost winter break. He'll be back for almost a month." Itachi said, trying to placate the blond.

"I don't even know if we can last that long." Naruto rubbed his face. "I just wish I could drive so I could see him."

"Why don't you learn?" Itachi asked and Naruto stared at him.

"I'm a college student. I'm poor. I can't afford a car, gas and car insurance. I'll starve to death." 

"What about Jiraiya?"

"What about him? He did a great job making sure I didn't die, but I'm an adult now so he left. I'm home alone all the time. Why do you think I'm always here? It's friggen lonely in the house." 

"Why don't you move in with me?" Itachi offered and Naruto looked at him surprised. "You already seem to get into the house. I have plenty of room."

"Do you think Gaara would care?"

"What does he have to do with anything?" Itachi was honestly confused.

"I dunno. You guys are being weird and I dunno what it means. Like are you getting back together or?" Itachi prided himself in many things. Remaining composed at all times was on the top of that list. For whatever reason, that question completely demolished his equanimity. "Itachi! Are you alright?!" Naruto asked loudly and Itachi just covered his face. Naruto stopped talking and just sat next to Itachi and rubbed his back until he had enough handle on himself to break out of his sulking. Itachi rubbed his face.

"Sorry. I..." Itachi trailed off and stared at the wall in front of him. "I don't know what that was about." Itachi lied tonelessly and his face was blank of emotion.

"Is it about Gaara and Lee?" Naruto asked with a frown. Itachi looked over at him.

"You knew?" The accusation was hurtful.

"Not like for sure but I suspected." Naruto said quietly and Itachi nodded slowly and looked back at his hands. "So is it like a for sure thing that happened?"

"I saw Gaara's clothes on Lee's floor." Naruto winced. 

"Maybe he just got changed? He wears Lee's clothes a lot." Naruto attempted and Itachi just sighed and stood up.

"Anyway, you can stay if you'd like. I have to go to bed." Naruto glanced at the clock. It was 6pm. Itachi left the room and Naruto just watched him go with a heavy heart.

***

"You never told us what happened when you went to your house." Tenten said while she shuffled the deck of cards. They sat in the library with Neji winding down after really tough training. "You didn't seem to be in a bad mood but not really a great one either."

"It was a very bittersweet weekend, I will admit. Unfortunately, it ended too soon before I could really figure everything out though." Neji raised an eyebrow.

"Did something happen with you and your future husband?" He asked blankly and Lee's face warmed at the joke and then he realized the answer to Neji's question and his face turned bright red. "That's a yes."

"What happened?!" Tenten asked excitedly, tapping the table and jumping up and down.

"Uh." Lee did not know how to answer that. Luckily, Neji did.

"They had sex. You can tell on his face." Lee made an awkward squeak of indigence and Tenten covered her mouth in surprise but was grinning.

"Oh man! You did it!" She playfully punched his arm. "Good job!"

"But he did say bittersweet, what happened?" Neji asked, bringing the mood back down.

"I am not really sure..." Lee furrowed his brow together and frowned. "We decided not to date until we live closer together. I am much too jealous to date him now. He said he is too but I have not really seen him jealous except when I was dating Sakura. Which was honestly a good reason to be jealous."

"Sakura? I didn't know you dated a girl. I thought you were gay." Tenten said honestly and Lee frowned at that.

"I am not gay. I suppose the best label would be bisexual." He admitted and she smiled.

"That's so nice. More representation."

"What do you mean?" Lee asked.

"She's bisexual too." Neji answered and took the cards from her hands to cut the deck. She took them back and dealt each of them a hand.

"That is special!" Lee said with a smile. "What about you, Neji?" Neji actually blushed at that. Not dramatically, but his skin was so pale any flush of color could be seen on his cheeks. Tenten pinched his cheeks making them more red than pink.

"My baby here is gay." She said with a giggle and Neji's glare turned icy but she didn't really take him seriously.

"Oh wow, I had no idea. You are so handsome, I thought you were straight." Lee admitted and everyone at the table blushed. "I am sorry if that came out weird."

"Aw, look at my boys flirting." Tenten giggled and Neji scowled and looked at his cards but his face was still red. "Got any 3's?"

"Go fish."

***

"So Gaara, I was going to start to teach Naruto how to drive. Would you like to join?" Itachi asked as he drove Gaara to his therapy appointment. 

"I don't have my permit yet. I don't know that I can learn." Gaara said quietly.

"Then we should get you your permit." Itachi said simply and Gaara looked over at him.

"Aren't teenage boys more expensive on car insurance?" Itachi nodded. "I don't work as much as I used to. With school, karate, and everything else I work like twice a week. I can't afford it."

"I told you that you would be on my plan. It won't be as expensive as you just being by yourself." Itachi said easily and Gaara stared at him for a while.

"What's wrong, Itachi? I can tell you're bothered." Itachi shook his head. "Please, tell me. I'm worried about you. You try to pretend you're okay and you're not and it just bothers me." Itachi gave a hard look to the road ahead of him. "I won't get angry."

"What?"

"Last time you wanted to talk to me, I got defensive and we fought. I won't get angry with what you say." Itachi sighed.

"Did you sleep with Lee?" Gaara's heart rate skyrocketed. His nerves were completely shot and he started to shake. How did Itachi find out?

"Yes." Gaara admitted, despite the gnawing feeling that told him to lie. He didn't want to lie anymore.

Itachi just nodded slowly, he didn't say anything. Gaara could tell he was upset, but what could Gaara say to that? Sorry? He wasn't. He loved Itachi, yes. But he knew he loved Lee more. He was sorry that he had to hurt Itachi's feelings. Itachi was the greatest blessing in his life so far. He did absolutely anything for Gaara and now the guilt was heavy on Gaara's stomach. The car ride was silent. Gaara noticed how tense Itachi was and he could tell he was clenching his teeth even under the calm expression he tried so hard to maintain. They had to talk about this. 

"Itachi-"

"We're here." He said and pulled the car into the parking lot. He shut the car off and kept both hands on the steering wheel. He continued to just stare blankly at nothing.

"Itachi-"

"You should go. You have an appointment." Itachi said coolly. 

"Will you pick me up?" Gaara asked with a small voice. Itachi gave a curt nod. "Can we talk then?"

"You will likely leave me no choice. I'll be waiting here in an hour. Go to your appointment." Gaara nodded slowly and left the car. Itachi drove away and Gaara's heart ached. He felt terrible. He walked into the building and glanced down at his appointment card and read the name so he could find the proper door.

_Dr. Obito Uchiha_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT** :  
> Much like last chapter's fun fact about Ino not supposed to be in the story, Itachi wasn't supposed to be either! Gaara was supposed to be with someone besides Lee, yes. But it was supposed to be Neji! I changed it to Itachi because of my experience with dating an older guy (I believe I've said this already. He was 11 years older than me. This is why I have no qualms with Gaara and Itachi's age gap. That boyfriend is my favorite ex. He's amazing.) So anyway, I thought about how much it helped me grow by dating someone older than me so that's when I started thinking of someone older than Neji. Itachi was easily the best choice! Gaara and Itachi were meant to date for two years and break up on their second anniversary after Gaara saw Lee at Christmas time and realized he still loved him. 
> 
> 1) It seems everyone wants me to give Itachi a boyfriend (I really didn't want to, but I'll try to listen to reason) If I were to give him a boyfriend who would you want it to be? (I got a lot of people saying Kisame, and honestly if it was Kisame idk what he would look like in the story since it's not common for shark people to walk around??)  
> 2) WHOA MAN. GAARA'S THERAPIST AMIRITE?? Are you excited to see the shitstorm this will cause with Guy and Kakashi?  
> 3) How long do you think Itachi will stay mad at Gaara?
> 
>  **I'm writing another oneshot.** This one is for Kakashi and Guy in their college years. It will start when Kakashi and Guy find out who Gaara's therapist is and we will see why Guy does not like that! Stay tuned for a jealous!Guy (It will be posted in the same series as this one but idk if you get emails if you're subscribed to this story for other things in the series. Let me know) Should be done today or tomorrow.


	61. Chapter 61

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaara's therapy with Obito  
> Gaara and Itachi talk  
> Lee and Neji talk  
> Instagram crack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The oneshot posted "What's Left of Me" takes place during this chapter. Check it out for more Kakashi/Guy moments!
> 
>  **RainiDayz** : Aren't we all? I'm excited.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Hahaha I know I was happy to put him in. I knew no one would see that coming. I may bring Kisame in. I'm still mulling it over.  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : Aw thank you very much! I'm so glad you like it! Yes that was my thought too which is why I said I didn't see Itachi dating anyone right away. Realistically, Itachi wouldn't date for a few years after Gaara (I think) but the readers are adamant he needs love (he does tho) Thank you for all of your reviews! I hope you continue to enjoy the ride!  
>  **Angie** : I fluctuate between the two. They are my precious babies and I love them both dearly. Oh good! Which pairings did I get you into?? (I'm kind of leading Neji and Lee into a FWB thing rn. I can dig it)  
>  **MirSama** : Neji would be cute. I can't imagine how they would be together now with a 6 hour drive between them though. We'll see what happens! Yeah I do love Gaara/Itachi but GaaLee has been my OTP since before I knew what shipping was. (I watched their fight last night. Super hype. I love them. Still my favorite fight)  
>  **Leah** : I feel that.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Yeah I'm leaning towards Hawaiian if I do bring him in! Thank you for reading still! <3  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Yes, Obito will be very good at what he does. Gaara just needs help seeing things from a different perspective. Itachi is the best, I love him. (Yo, I looked for it on your page and I couldn't find it???) I hope you enjoyed the oneshot!  
>  **AshBoopTaylor** : Huzzah! Congratulations! Thank you for reading and sticking with it! I have had a lot of people read and they kind of give up because the story isn't developing how they want it to (I.E They didn't see the "slow burn" or the "gaara/itachi") Haha yes, it's quite the soap opera. I didn't think I'd ship them either. That was an accident. Now I can't get enough and theres no stories on here. I'm glad Ino continues to be loved! Tenten will have her time to shine soon! As for Kiba and Shino, they will be in more later! Once all the big drama gets settled and everything, I will be able to focus on some college chapters so we can visit our lovely characters. I adore writing Kakashi/Guy moments. A lot of the time I base them off of me and my husband (me being Kakashi because I hate everyone) but I add "youth" to things he says lol. Kakashi is so chill. The Jiraiya thing will be this chapters funfact! Thank you again for reading! Hope you continue to enjoy!  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Funnily enough, my chapters used to be 5 pages until about chapter 30ish then they doubled to 10 pages a chapter. last chapter was 5 pages which is less than everyone is used to at this point lol. But writing so many stories at once, kinda hard to write 10 pages all the time! Anyway, the bond between Gaara Naruto and Itachi will actually get stronger as the story goes so that'll be fun. I think I know who Itachi's boo will be (If I decide to add one)and how he gets there. But I will add more characters as we go! By the way, I am SUPER impressed you read a story this long that wasn't completely centered around the ship you were here for. And I'm so glad you liked the story! GaaLee is my life (I have like 36728 stories for them right now) Guy and Kakashi will have their fair share of moments, especially during the trial! Thank you for reading!

Chapter Sixty-One:

When Gaara entered the room, he was met with the secretary. He gave his name and awkwardly sat on one of the chairs in the empty waiting room. There was a stack of magazines on the table but none of them sounded even slightly interesting. Gaara pulled out his phone and scrolled through Instagram as he learned to do when he was bored. It was more interested than Facebook, for sure. Lee was uploading more pictures with his new friends Neji and Tenten and Gaara liked the picture, despite the unsettling feeling of discomfort in his stomach.

He noticed Itachi hadn't uploaded any pictures recently and even more painful, he deleted all of their "together" pictures. That sure winded Gaara. Should he do the same thing? Would it make it easier to deal with?

Gaara went through his camera roll and picked a picture of him and Ino from the weekend. They were hugging and Ino was kissing his cheek.

_Saw my best friend this weekend @iNoEverything I missed you._

Gaara smiled softly at the picture and actually took the time to go through his pictures and delete the ones he uploaded with Itachi. If Itachi didn't want the memories, he didn't either.

_***NotADrugDealer** Hey what about all the good times we had @StudMuffin??? All the times I kicked your clumsy ass in the dojo! [cry laughing emoji]  
 ***O.G_RockLee** Naruto, you just wait until I see you! I will show you an ass kicking [angry breathing emoji, fist emoji]  
 ***Uchiha_Sasuke** omg pls tho  
 ***iNoEverything** Can y'all fight on a pic that isn't me and my boo tho? Cuz I feel some type of way. I love u Gaara.  
 ***StudMuffin** Why does this happen every time I post a photo?  
 ***NotADrugDealer** ugh @Uchiha_Sasuke I'LL SHOW YOU AN ASS KICKING! I'LL POUND YOUR ASS SO HARD  
 ***O.G_RockLee** @NotADrugDealer Naruto we talked about this..._

Gaara shook his head at the conversation and put his phone away. 

"Sabaku Gaara." He looked up to see a familiar looking face. It made sense now why his last name was Uchiha. He must be related to Itachi. He didn't know why he was surprised.

Gaara got up and followed the man into the office and sat on the couch. Obito sat on a chair across from him and grabbed a folder. He took a marker and wrote Gaara's name on the lip and looked up and smiled at Gaara.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Uchiha. I see you know my friend Itachi."

"Friend? You two aren't related?" Gaara asked, confused.

"Distantly we are. Not really close enough for holidays at each other's house and such. I would like to let you know this does not create a bias for me. Everything we talk about here will be strictly confidential. I am sworn by oath to never repeat anything said at these meetings between us, the only exception is when I am afraid you may hurt yourself or others. This is only in extreme cases, I do not want you to feel as though you cannot talk about dark feelings to me. Thinking of dark things and planning them are two different things."

"So, like just because someone thinks of suicide doesn't mean they're planning to commit suicide?" Gaara offered and Obito nodded.

"Exactly. Are there any questions that you have to get us better acquainted or would you rather just dive right in?" Obito asked politely.

"Uh... Does it help to talk?" Obito smiled.

"It honestly depends. In some cases, yes. It can help a lot. Interestingly enough they've done studies on the human brain. Depression, for example, is seen as a mental illness. This will show in brain scans, you can actually see the brain has different color lighting up than a healthy brain. There are different causes in depression. The study was, they scanned hundreds of people diagnosed with depression's brains and they either put them in therapy or gave them medication. They then looked at the brain scans compared later on and saw that when the brain was lit up more in some areas they felt better with medication than others. The brain is a fascinating things, really. I'm not actually just a therapist though, I am a psychiatrist. This means I can prescribe medication as well. I don't like to though. Now, tell me, are you taking anything?"

"Uh. I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, PTSD and DID. I do take medication... I actually stopped my Zoloft. I didn't like it... I have Xanax for my anxiety and citalopram for DID." Obito frowned.

"First, how often do you take your Xanax?"

"Not very often. Once or twice a week. I only use it when everything gets really tough." Obito nodded, still frowning.

"Well, I don't understand why you were put on so many medications. I'm going to take you off of those and put you on something else. Sertraline. It should help with depression, anxiety, PTSD and DID. I have no idea why the previous doctor wouldn't do that anyway."

"Really? Only one medication?" Gaara seemed surprised.

"Yes, although I will let you keep your Xanax as a last resort. Just remember it is incredibly addictive. This is why it isn't given in large quantities. How many do you get a month?"

"Uh, 15 but I break them in half. They're .25mg so I only have like .175mg." Obito nodded and scribbled that down.

"Okay, that's good. I'm going to lower it since you said you only take it twice a week about. I'll prescribe 10 of the .25mg. This still gives you 20 dosages which should me more than enough." Gaara nodded and Obito smiled. "Alright, I'll put that in later. Now, tell me about you."

"What about me?"

"Well, why are you here right now? Is there something you'd like to get off your chest?" Gaara looked down at his hands. He just wanted to talk about Itachi. "You can tell me anything, Gaara. It's what I'm here for."

"Even..." Gaara trailed off and frowned.

"Yes, even Itachi." Gaara looked up surprised and saw the soft smile on Obito's face. He was so kind looking. 

Through the appointment, Gaara just word vomited. He said everything he could possibly think of that was on his mind even if it didn't make sense. Obito would make some notes and ask a small amount of questions but Gaara could tell how engaged he was with listening. It was nice to be listened to that intently. 

Towards the end, Gaara honestly felt better. He didn't know how long that would last but it didn't matter what he said to Obito, it didn't shock him, he just urged him to say more, never really giving a reaction that would sway Gaara's emotions. He didn't nod or shake his head. He tilted his head at times but that was it. For the most part, he remained completely calm and neutral. 

"Gaara, you haven't spoken at all about your home life, you don't need to right now, but I can tell you something I know of your childhood based on your actions." Gaara blinked in confusion.

"How can you tell if I haven't said anything?" He asked and Obito sighed and shifted in his chair.

"You were neglected as a child, I'm guessing. You weren't shown love or compassion, am I correct." Gaara froze. "It's okay to admit it. You aren't weak by telling me. You also don't have to tell me right now if you don't want to."

"How... How did you come to that conclusion?" Obito looked through his notes.

"You said here that you had a hard time letting go of Itachi even though you were intimate with Lee. That doesn't say it completely, but there were other things you said that led to this conclusion. You're starved for love, Gaara. It's normal after everything you've been through, honestly. Right now you are clinging onto both of these men because you don't want to stop having positive attention in your life. You like the attention they're giving you and that's okay. You deserve love, you just have to know that leading them on isn't healthy for either of you. You can be loved and not have it be a sexual thing. You say you're demisexual. So you only have sex with people you love so you look into sex a lot more than other people. When you are intimate with people, that is the ultimate show of love to you and you're scared that by not having sex with them, the love isn't there. Is there someone you love but wouldn't sleep with?"

"Uh, yeah. My best friend Ino. My sister, my brother and my dads." It was one of the first times Gaara admitted out loud that he looked at Kakashi and Guy as his fathers.

"Do you doubt they love you because you don't have sex with them?"

"No."

"Then why don't you let Itachi or Lee love you without sex?" Obito asked gently and Gaara couldn't help it. His eyes watered.

"I-I guess... If I let them go and they sleep with someone else..." Gaara stopped talking and his lower lip quivered.

"You're afraid if they sleep with someone else, they don't love you anymore?"

"No, that they love me less. It's stupid and selfish but I just... I can't help it."

"I understand you, Gaara. I just want you to know, not everyone puts the same emotion behind sex as you. There are people who have sex just to let off steam and it doesn't mean anything to them. Do you think your friend Ino loves you less because she sleeps with someone that isn't you?"

"No. Of course not. I know Ino loves me." Gaara said certainly.

"Exactly." Obito smiled. "Itachi and Lee love you, I can tell by how you talk about them and I know you love them too. You just have to keep in mind that if you continue going down this path, you may do what you're most scared of and that is losing them. It sounds like they both want you in their lives as a partner. If you hurt them like this, I can't promise they'll stay. If you don't know which one you want yet, that's fine. Just give yourself time. Think about yourself. Just don't lead them on and hurt them. You'll regret it." Gaara nodded. 

"Yeah... You're right." He looked up at the clock and his eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, we're 10 minutes past the appointment." Gaara apologized and Obito smiled at him.

"It isn't a big deal. I'm going to send the script to your pharmacy. Which do you use?"

"Uh Medical Arts over by the plaza in Freytown." Obito nodded and sat at his computer.

"Alright. Just a moment." After a few minutes of typing, Obito pulled out an appointment card and wrote his name. "What day of the week is best?"

"Tuesday?"

"Can you come next Tuesday?" Gaara nodded and Obito wrote down the date. "Is 4pm okay?" Another nod. "Excellent. I will see you then."

"Thank you very much, Doctor Uchiha." Obito nodded with a smile.

"My pleasure. I look forward to our next visit." Gaara put the card in his wallet and waved at Obito and left the building. He saw Itachi in his car biting his thumb and looking out of his window. Gaara bit his lip and quickly went to the car.

"Itachi." Gaara's heart was racing. "I hurt you, for that I am so sorry and I know sorry doesn't fix hurting you. You're one of my closest friends and you do anything for me and I still... I still hurt you and that was really shitty of me to do. I know we aren't together, but I shouldn't have slept with Lee so soon after you. I talked to the doctor about it and he explained to me how it was wrong. Obviously I knew it was wrong, I'm not stupid, but I didn't mean to hurt you. You're the last person I would want to hurt. I love you very much. I guess I just... When I talked to the doctor about sex... I told you I'm demisexual. I can't comprehend having sex with someone I don't love. I can't imagine that anyone would do that, it doesn't make sense to me. I just saw it as something you do with someone you love so much and he asked about Ino and if I knew she loved me even without us sleeping together and it was like I didn't hesitate. Of course I know that. But then he asked about why couldn't I see you or Lee loving me without sex too and I just didn't know what to say. I shouldn't play both sides, I know that. I'm so sorry. I just... I never felt love before." Gaara looked at Itachi but Itachi wasn't looking at him. Gaara let a few tears fall and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "But now I do. I'm afraid to lose you. I love you."

Itachi stayed quiet for a while and his mind was racing. His heart ached, his body was tense. He had so many emotions he couldn't sit and place them all. He just knew that he was defeated. He was tired of being this defeated with Gaara. The other day he told Lee that there wasn't much Gaara could do that someone would stay angry at him for, this was completely true. Itachi couldn't stay angry at Gaara. He really wanted to. Gaara hurt him, broke his heart twice now and Itachi would still take him back if Gaara asked. Open arms, no questions. He just wished he could be stronger, for his own heart's sake. 

"You hurt me twice now." Itachi said quietly. "I can't really blame you though. I let it happen. And I think no matter how much I want to push you away, I won't. I'll keep getting hurt if that's what you chose to do to me. I can't let this drop. I love you. I love you so much that I'll let you hurt me as many times as you want to and I will always be here for you, Gaara." Itachi sighed, he still wasn't looking at Gaara. He wasn't strong enough right now. He was drained. 

"Itachi, I don't want to hurt you-"

"You will, Gaara. Not intentionally. I'm sure there will be times I hurt you too. It's just life." Itachi sounded so empty. 

"Itachi, look at me." Gaara said softly.

"No. I can't." Itachi clenched his jaw. His face was blank.

"Please?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I-I can't." Itachi bit the inside of his cheek.

"But why not?"

"If I look at you, I'll break." Itachi's voice sounded less hallow and more pained.

"Don't break. Just look at me, please." Itachi closed his eyes tightly and turned his head to face Gaara. When he garnered the courage, he opened his eyes. Gaara stared at him with wet tracks of tears on his face, his eyes were bloodshot, his hair was a wreck from him messing with it. 

Even though Gaara told him not to break, the second he looked at that face he couldn't do it anymore. He pressed his lips together tightly and tears welled up in his eyes quicker than he could blink them away and they just rolled down his cheeks. Gaara leaned over and hugged him and Itachi was upset that it made him feel better.

"I need to bring you home now." Itachi whispered in Gaara's ear. Gaara nodded and sat back in his seat.

Itachi put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot, he shifted the car into gear and started to drive forward and put his seatbelt on. For some reason the series of movements was painful to see.

***

"Gaara! Good to see you're back! How was your appointment? Did it give you some youthful energy?" Gaara shrugged his shoulders.

"It was nice, I guess." He admitted and sat on the couch. "My doctor was really nice. He explained a lot of things in a different light."

"That is most wonderful!" Guy held up his thumb happily with a grin that reminded Gaara of Lee. "What is the fantastic doctor's name that you went to see?"

"Dr. Obito Uchiha." Gaara said simply and pulled his phone out to put his appointment in his calendar. 

"Wait. Who?" Guy blinked and Gaara frowned. Did he know the man?

"Dr. Obito Uchiha." Gaara repeated, slower this time. Guy blinked again.

"Your therapist... is Obito Uchiha?" Gaara nodded slowly, confused with Guy's clear discomfort. Guy rubbed the back of his neck looking nervous. "W-where are you getting therapy? In this town or...?"

"No, Itachi drove me a few towns over. It's like 30 minutes from here on the thruway." Guy still looked green, this time it wasn't his clothes. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Just. Fine. I'm going to go." Guy got up and fled the room quickly, brushing against Kakashi as he left.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, jerking his thumb in the direction Guy ran off to. They heard him go to the bedroom and close the door.

"Uh, I don't know. He got weird about my doctor." Kakashi tilted his head.

"Who is your doctor?"

"Obito Uchiha." Gaara said and Kakashi's eyes widened and his mouth made an 'o'. "I'm guessing this means something to you?" Kakashi scratched the back of his head and sat on the couch.

"Yeah... That was my best friend growing up and in college. He was my roommate."

"Sounds like a good thing?" Kakashi frowned and shook his head.

"Guy is terribly jealous of him. We actually broke up because of Obito." Gaara was confused. He couldn't see Kakashi and Guy not married, honestly.

"Really? Why? He's so nice." Kakashi smirked slightly and Gaara blinked. "Did you sleep with him?" Kakashi looked scandalized. "Yeah. You did." Gaara sighed.

"Okay. I did. But, so? I never cheated on Guy with him. He was just jealous because we were roommates and I was sexually attracted to him." Kakashi said with a sigh. Should he be talking about this to his foster-son?

"Sexual attraction?"

"Yeah. It's when your body is attracted to someone but your mind isn't. You can be sexually attracted to someone your mind is attracted to as well but that’s more of a romantic attraction." Gaara blinked, was this what Obito was talking about? Blowing off steam with someone? He was referring to his foster father? Weird.

"Did you love him?" Gaara found himself asking.

"Not in that way, no."

"Why would you sleep with someone if you didn't love them?" Kakashi smiled a bit.

"Right. I forgot your sexuality. Not many people share your sentiments about sex, Gaara. I'm fairly certain Guy does, and that's why he's so upset about it still. Sex with Obito was nice. But it was just that. Sex. There wasn't love involved. Just fun times." Gaara nodded again slowly mulling it over. 

"Thank you, Kakashi." Kakashi inclined his head and stood up.

"Well, time for me to stroke my husband's ego before he dies. Don't get married. Men suck." Kakashi said and walked up the stairs. Gaara couldn't help but agree.

***

Neji and Lee just got back from the soup kitchen covered in sweat. Once they found out Neji was useful with a knife, he was thrown in the back with Lee, cutting everything they gave him. He didn't want to admit how bad he cried when they made him cut a whole bag of onions.

Then he found out they didn't need them diced, but cut into rings. Lee laughed for a while and Neji's eyes just burned

"I'm never going back again." Neji said with a grumble and opened their mini-fridge and pulled out a hard cider.

"Yeah sure. Can I have one as well?" Neji grabbed a second one and they both sat on the couch. "At least they have a lot of prepped cut onions for the weekend!"

"I'm so happy for them." Neji said dryly and took a swig of his drink. "Why the hell don't we bring Tenten with us? She should suffer too." Lee frowned.

"It is not suffering, it is most youthful to be contributing to the community, especially those in need-"

"Lee. Stop." Lee pressed his lips together and curled them in, looking away slightly embarrassed. Neji would often scold him for going on long winded tangents about nothing. 

Neji opened his laptop and opened his saved files and scrolled through them.

"Are we watching Arrow?" Lee asked excitedly and Neji nodded. It was a show they randomly decided to binge on. Lee will not admit it had anything to do with the main actor, Stephen Amell. Absolutely no reason for them watching it.

They fell into a comfortable silence, drinking their hard ciders and eating the pizza they grabbed on the way back from the soup kitchen. Lee felt at ease for the first time in a while. He glanced at Neji briefly and watched the light of the laptop screen flicker on his face. His features were very relaxed and almost blank. Neji never showed much emotion. It was interesting, he reminded Lee of Gaara that way.

"Can I help you?" Neji asked and Lee blushed a bit and turned his focus to the screen. He always forgot how perceptive Neji was at all times. He always had this sixth sense about things, it was actually creepy sometimes.

The other day, Neji sat on the bed writing and then stopped and stared at the door for a minute. This confused Lee and he asked what and Neji just said someone was coming. It was a dorm hallway, someone was always in it, but a few seconds later, Tenten walked in. Lee never knew how Neji did that.

"Sorry. You just... Nothing." Neji pressed the space bar on the laptop, pausing the show and looked at Lee.

"What?"

"You... You just reminded me of Gaara." Lee admitted and Neji frowned.

"How?"

"You two act similar." Neji couldn't see that. How would Lee of all people want to go for someone like Neji? Their personalities were complete opposites. "You have the same expressions sometimes too."

"Interesting." Neji said quietly. 

"I am sorry for disrupting the show, please continue." Neji nodded and started the show but this time he couldn't help but glance at Lee from the corner of his eye. What a strange guy he was. Neji really disliked to think it, but Lee was growing on him. Like a tumor or something as equally as unpleasant, but growing on him nonetheless. This would be an interesting year, for sure.

***

Gaara should not be jealous.

There is no reason for him to be jealous.

He shouldn't say anything.

Literally no reason to be jealous. Absolutely none.

Even with all that, he still managed to scowl at Ino's new picture on Instagram with a guy with blonde hair that reminded Gaara of Ino a bit with his tongue sticking out, and a girl that reminded him of Neji who was smiling sweetly. Ino was in the middle winking.

_Gangs all here~! Time to #SipAndPaint with my best buds #ArtInstitute #ArtBuddies @BombAssArt @LavenderSun_

_***BombAssArt** Can't wait to post a video of your ugly painting when you get too drunk, yeah.  
 ***iNoEverything** I can't wait to post a picture of your ugly painting because you suck at painting [blow kiss emoji]  
 ***BombAssArt** You're an asshole, I hope you know  
 ***iNoEverything** Duh Thanks for the obvious.  
 ***StudMuffin** [eye-roll emoji]  
 ***iNoEverything** My boo! I wish you were here!  
 ***StudMuffin** thought the gang was all there already.  
 ***iNoEverything** My school gang! Not my best friend! Come to college with meee. [heart eyes emoji]  
 ***O.G_RockLee** No! Come to college with ME! [grin emoji. Thumbs up emoji]  
 ***iNoEverything** I will murder everything you love if you pick Lee over me.  
 ***StudMuffin** I hope you like committing suicide.  
 ***iNoEverything** [heart eyes emoji. Heart emoji] AW BOO THAT WAS THE NICEST THING YOU'VE EVER SAID TO ME!  
 ***BombAssArt** You need some new friends then, yeah.  
 ***iNoEverything** That's what I told myself when you and I became friends [eye-roll emoji]  
 ***NotADrugDealer** Aw why didn't anyone tell me we were fighting on Ino's picture again? Damn it @Uchiha_Sasuke. This is your fault  
 ***Uchiha_Sasuke** ??? How???  
 ***NotADrugDealer** BTW @BombAssArt you're still stupd  
 ***BombAssArt** At least I can spell stupid, yeah.  
 ***Uchiha_Sasuke** [eye-roll emoji] @NotADrugDealer can you please learn to insult people if you're going to call them out? JFC.  
 ***iNoEverything** Why can't we all just get along and tell me how hot I look in this pic ffs  
 ***StudMuffin** @iNoEverything I'm sorry, we just didn't want to lie to you :/  
 ***BombAssArt** @StudMuffing [cry laughing emoji] I like your friend there, yeah, Ino?  
 ***iNoEverything** You leave my precious cinnamon roll alone I will cut you._

Gaara got a follow notification and saw that BombAssArt was now following him. He followed back and clicked on his page and scrolled through his pictures. He seemed to like sculpting. He was pretty good at it. His profile said his name was Deidara. Wasn't that the guy that threatened to bomb the school last year?

Life was interesting.

***

Gaara had been writing music more that week and even uploaded clips to his Instagram page. He was flooded with comments from his lovely followers from the play. He even got a several likes from Itachi which made him smile. He missed Itachi. They didn't really speak this week. Ino was fawning over him like most of his fans but he loved her comments the most. Lee commented too, usually heart eyes emojis or heart emojis. Even Deidara commented on them, although he would point out some obscure thing about the video that had nothing to do with the content. Just like "I see you have a plant on your window, yeah" which was strange but it strangely cheered him up. 

He liked knowing that Ino had interesting friends at school. Even though he was jealous of them.

Gaara felt like he finally understood what Obito and Kakashi were telling him. Ino loved him, she also loved her other friends. He never felt neglected by her. He would try to apply that to Lee and Itachi. For some reason it felt more difficult, but he knew he would eventually be able to manage. He couldn't wait to go to his doctor visit tomorrow to talk to Obito. He felt like he was finally getting somewhere.

Gaara's phone was vibrating next to him. He looked down. Naruto? 

"Hello?"

"Hey! Itachi is teaching me to drive today. Wanna come?" A smile spread on Gaara's face.

"Yeah. Let me get ready. When will you be here?"

"We're already here. In fact, I'm in your kitchen. What gives? You haven't cooked in forever! You're making dinner tonight, right?" Gaara frowned, he didn't even hear Naruto come in.

"I... yeah. I usually make dinner."

"Sweet. Itachi and I will join tonight." Gaara blinked. "Come downstairs!" Naruto hung up the phone and Gaara just blinked at it and shook his head. He got dressed and met the two downstairs. Naruto was eating... something, and Itachi was standing against the counter (the one Gaara now refused to use) with his arms crossed.

"Hi. I didn't hear you come in."

"I'm amazed. Naruto wasn't exactly quiet. He does have a tendency to break into other people's houses." Itachi gave Naruto a look of disapproval. Naruto just shrugged.

"Hey, I live there now. I can break in whenever I want. Enough of that. Let's drive. We can even go to the store to pick up food so Gaara can make ramen." Gaara blinked again. He never made ramen before. And when did Naruto live with Itachi? Gaara looked at Itachi and Itachi smiled softly at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  Everyone says Iruka should've been Naruto's guardian. I suppose I could've aged him up a bit, but in this story Iruka is Itachi's age so he would've been 10 when Naruto's parents died and therefore completely unable to watch Naruto as a parent lol. Iruka was meant to have more screen time but I never got the chance to write him in. Him and Itachi are friends from high school though! I'll try to squeeze him in more!
> 
> 1) I'm such a baby, I love Gaara/itachi so much that I want them together again but I also don't. What is everyone else's feelings on it? I change my mind so often lol  
> 2) I told you Hinata would be in eventually. She'll talk more later!  
> 3) Eyyyy we got Deidara. Who's happy to see our blond friend??  
> 4) Is there a pairing you didn't ship before you read the story, but now you do?


	62. Chapter 62

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AND ITS TIME TO STIR THE POT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **MirSama** : Eyyyy I'm glad you feel the same way. I try to keep them apart or not write their interactions because I don't trust myself with them right now. Gaara won't be with anyone for a while. (D:) And yeah, me too honestly and I never ship anyone else with Lee other than Gaara. This story is destroying me.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : I feel you so much rn. Deidara will be in a lot more later! I can't wait to write him. I'm not sure if he dates anyone though! <3<3 ItaGaa! Thank you and yes, Obito is far from being over  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : They are and so would I. I love them. I'm bonding OD with Deidara right now. I'm glad you like him being Demisexual! He was supposed to be Asexual (I am ace) but I wanted to write sex scenes because even though I don't like sex, I love writing it. It's like a challenge. (That's why most of my sex scenes are awkward) NOW YOU TELL ME. Why aren't you as fast of a writer as me??? It isn't like I write everyday or anything, sheesh. I'm glad you liked the oneshot!!  
>  **Angie** : I'm so glad! I like to think I do it slowly and subtly enough that you just kind of wind up rooting for them and then they're together and you're just like "I can live with this" because that's how I did it to myself lol. Thank you!  
>  **AshBoopTaylor** : There's more of a spark in this chapter! And there's a whole section with Guy/Kakashi. I figured since most of my readers ship them I should give them more screen time. Plus I have Obito drama to deal with. Aw I would love to bring Pakkun into the story lol. Deidara is wild! I love him even though he hurt my cinnamon roll. Thank you!  
>  **RainiDayz** : Well I decided I'm taking it slow with them. They will just be friends and Itachi will teach him things (off screen though because if I write them together they will makeout. I can't be trusted. This is why Itachi hasn't really been mentioned other than "Gaara hung out with Itachi the other day" lmao)  
>  **Rae** : aaAAAHHH. u right tho. Maybe they hook up. who knows? I LOVE HINATA TOO.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Haha I'm glad you liked last chapter! Deidara is a cutie patootie. So many good characters died. I'm still super salty about Itachi. Yes! They will all be introduced (we get to see Kiba more this chapter!) Kiba and Chouji were at the christmas party. Shino goes to college with Sasuke. Kiba goes to college with Ino and I think Chouji goes to school with Naruto but I haven't mentioned him yet. I hope you are happier than you were yesterday if you needed some cheering up. Oh yeah, they will be such a group of bitches when they meet and I'm pumped. Everyone is rooting for GaaLee!  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Thank you so much! I'm glad you think my characters are precious :) Funny thing about that, I used DID instead of MPD because I felt like DID kind of had a better phrasing for how Gaara acted. I don't feel like he has multiple personalities. He dissociates himself a lot and that's really why I picked it. (I know they're the same thing essentially but yeah) That's so cool that you're a mental health specialist! If you have any pointers for Gaara I would love to hear them! And yeah, I wanted Kakashi to be his dad but then Kakashi and Guy were together and it would throw off the story. Poor Naruto got shipped with Jiraiya. Yaaass I'm glad you ship it! Thank you for the prompts! I used most of them for this chapter. I hope you enjoy!

TEENAGE KAKASHI AND GUY (Look at Kakashi rockin' the 90's tie a sweater around your waist)  


Chapter Sixty-Two:

"So Gaara." Itachi started and Gaara looked up at him. Gaara made it more of a consistent habit of spending time at Itachi's house with Itachi and Naruto. "The school play is coming up. You joining?" Gaara sighed.

"I don't like Grease." He admitted.

"What?? You'd make a great Sandy!" Naruto said loudly then laughed at his joke.

"Thanks." Gaara said blankly. "I don't know if I'd even get a part." Gaara said quietly.

"You should try. I hear Iruka is in charge of the play." Naruto's face lit up.

"Really!? Iruka?! Oh man! He's the best!" Itachi smiled slightly at that.

"Yes. We went to high school together. He's quite nice. A few years older than me. So, you should try out is what I'm getting at."

"I don't even know who I'd try out for." Naruto snapped his fingers. 

"Rizzo." Gaara blinked.

"Doesn't she get pregnant?" 

"I think you could sing 'Beauty School Dropout'." Gaara frowned.

"Rizzo doesn't sing that. The Teen Angel does. Rizzo sings 'There are worse things I could do'." Naruto smiled.

"See? You already know your parts!" Gaara shook his head.

"No. I hate that musical. I don't even want to see it when they play it." Gaara said finally and checked on the food in the oven. "Enough talk about the play, I have dinner ready." Naruto whooped.

Honestly, the reason Gaara was cooking dinner at Itachi's house instead of his own was because the house was kind of tense since he'd been going to see Obito. He wanted Guy and Kakashi to have some alone time to figure out what was going on. Gaara hadn't really been at the house in a while. He saw them at the dojo every other weekday but other than that he didn't see them. He was actually sleeping over Itachi's house tonight too in order to hopefully give them time to resolve whatever the problem was.

"Ah shit." Naruto looked down at his phone. "Now Sasuke is calling me. I've been bugging him to call me all damn day and he calls when dinner is ready. Ugh. I'll be right back." Naruto stood up and left the room, going up to his bedroom. "Hello?"

"Hey, you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, like HOURS ago."

"So you don't want to talk anymore?" Sasuke's voice was flat.

"No, you know I do. It's just, you push me off all the time. We're having dinner now."

"We're? Who else?"

"Gaara and Itachi."

"Why are you with them?" Naruto frowned.

"Because they're my friends. I don't have to sit in Jiraiya's apartment all day because you want me to be alone all the damn time."

"Naruto, that isn't what I meant and you know it. Besides me asking you to check on my brother when Gaara and him broke up, you never mentioned that you all were that close. It was a surprise." Sasuke said with obvious irritation. "You can hang out with whoever, I don't care."

"Hey Sasuke." A male voice said in the background. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a second, Shino. I gotta go, Naruto."

"You're leaving me again?" Naruto was upset.

"Sorry, Naruto. I forgot we were all going out to dinner. I'll call you later."

"Yeah whatever." Naruto hung up the phone and threw it on his bed. Fucking Sasuke.

***

"Guy." Kakashi sighed when Guy walked in an hour later than normal. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Guy asked as he took off his shoes.

"I mean, you said you weren't going to let this bother you and here you are, over a week later, letting it bother you. Gaara even said he wouldn't come home tonight. He's been avoiding the house because he knows we're upset. What kind of example are we setting?" Guy shook his head.

"I'm not upset." Guy said simply. "I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Then why weren't you home at 5 for our anniversary dinner reservation?" Guy's face actually turned white.

"W-what?" He pulled out his phone and checked the date. Guy smacked his face.

"Yeah." Kakashi nodded and crossed his arms with a sigh. "Just... Don't come up to bed until you're ready to actually tell me the truth." Kakashi said and went up the stairs calmly and close the door with a soft click.

Guy sat on the couch and rubbed his temples. Kakashi was always so calm but he could tell how mad he was right now. He had every right to be! Guy was just training harder today because his mind was just all over the place with everything. It wasn't even just Obito, it was the trial that was fast approaching, it was the talk of official adoption him and Kakashi talked about for Gaara, seeing his son for a few days and then losing him again. Guy just wasn't in the right mind set anymore. Was there anything else that could possibly go wrong?

Guy shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He needed to make it up to his husband. It was now 27 years together with the love of his life and he couldn't even make it special. Guy sighed. He stood up and went to the bedroom. Kakashi was lounging on the bed reading a romance novel. Guy couldn't help but smile at the sight. For a second, they were 27 years in the past in college. This was the sight he always walked into the dorm room to see. Kakashi lounging and reading. He loved that sight. Kakashi glanced up and his dark eyes focused on Guy's.

"Are you ready to talk?" Kakashi asked and Guy walked over, climbed on the bed and pulled Kakashi close to his chest and hugged him tight. "This is nice, not a talk though."

"I just want to hold you for a minute." Guy whispered and Kakashi nodded. 

Honestly, Kakashi wasn't angry at Guy. He was hurt. He never thought Guy would ever forget their anniversary. Guy always kept track of dates. He would bring Kakashi flowers for an anniversary for anything. First kiss, first date at the mall, first time they had sex, anything. This time he didn't even remember their wedding anniversary. It was the only anniversary that Kakashi actually put effort into planning. 

"I'm going to make it up to you, Kakashi. I promise." Guy said and squeezed his husband. "I love you."

"Yeah." Kakashi said quietly and Guy frowned and pulled away to look at his husband in the face. Kakashi aged beautifully. His features looked unchanged besides the small wrinkles by the corners of his eyes. Guy pushed Kakashi's hair away from his face just to look at him again. He remembered seeing this face for the first time and just knowing he would marry Kakashi one day. And there they were and he forgot their anniversary.

"I feel terrible." Guy admitted and Kakashi frowned.

"You should." His lips then quirked up.

"Rival, you know I'm a delicate flower." Guy attempted to joke but it fell flat. "And I'm very sorry."

"What were you doing? You didn't even call me to tell me you were late." Kakashi said.

"I was just training. I've been frustrated. I figured if I put forth all that youthful vigor towards my training, I would feel better. However I realized that nothing would make me feel better than by spending my time with you. I was upset, yes. But about so much more than Obito. There's so much going on. I will never allow myself to forget another anniversary. I will run 30 laps around the town-"

"Guy just shut up and kiss me." Guy smiled and kissed his husband.

"Why didn't you kiss me to shut me up to begin with?" Guy asked and Kakashi smiled.

"Because I'm lazy so you had to come after me instead of the other way around." Guy frowned.

"You'd have to move 4 inches forward." He countered and Kakashi shrugged. "You are the laziest, karate master I have ever encountered." Guy said tenderly and kissed Kakashi's cheek.

"It's a gift." Guy chuckled and nodded. If there was any gift his husband had, it would be the gift of laziness. Surprisingly, he found that he loved it about Kakashi.

***

"Gaara, I do believe that was a very successful session." Obito said, smiling. "I know it was difficult, but we finally got at least the surface of what is looming over your head. I'm sorry that you had difficult times, but I thank you for sharing them with me. This will further our progress for sure."

Gaara nodded and looked at the ground awkwardly. He finally admitted to his doctor about Shukaku and the past abuse that he didn't remember but knew Shukaku did. Gaara was adamant that he never wanted to find out what happened to him and even though Shukaku wasn't stable in the slightest, he was thankful for the reality break for a while.

Talking to Obito was lovely because it gave him different perspectives from an unbiased, mature, outsider perspective. Gaara even decided on his own that he was going to cut down the communication with Lee a bit since every time they talked, Gaara felt an ache in his chest. He missed Lee terribly and that wouldn't go away. The only thing he could do is not talk to him on the phone every day. They would still text and comment on each other's Instagram, but that was about it. Gaara was okay with that for now.

"What are you thinking about?" Obito asked when he saw the smile on Gaara's face.

"My friend, Lee." Obito chuckled at that.

"Oh yes, your dear friend Lee. Now, you've shown me pictures of everyone in your gang except Lee. Care to put a face to name for me?" Gaara grabbed his phone and looked through their pictures and clicked on one. They took a few the weekend Lee stopped by. Ino took the picture. They were all sitting on the porch, Gaara and Lee were sitting next to each other. Gaara was in Lee's sweatshirt and Lee was just in a muscle shirt. Gaara was waving at the camera and Lee was looking at Gaara with a longing smile. Gaara loved Lee's expression in the picture. He handed his doctor the phone and Obito adjusted the glasses on his face and squinted at the picture. There was an expression of surprise but he quickly removed it from his face.

"Wow. Lee looks like someone I used to know." Obito said thoughtfully. "Funny, you kind of remind me of someone I used to know too." Gaara frowned when he thought about his dads.

The problem Gaara was having now was the slight iciness he got from his dads. They were better than before but there was still something wrong. Especially on Tuesdays when he saw Obito.

"What are you frowning for?" Obito asked and Gaara didn't know how to answer that.

"My dads." Gaara commented and Obito nodded.

"Yes, you mentioned them before. You say that they are your friend Lee's fathers and they adopted you into their home? That is very kind of them. What about them?" Obito asked and Gaara bit his lip and shook his head. It was probably something he shouldn't tell Obito. "You know you can talk to me if you really need to, I won't push you."

"I know... They're just... They're like me and Lee, and watching them together is great. I can tell they love each other and just... lately I feel like all I've done is cause problems. And the strange thing is, they're still there for me. I thought they would kick me out when they found out about Shukaku but they care..."

"Are you afraid you'll lose them?" Gaara nodded. "I wouldn't worry about it. They seem to care about you very much."

"I know it's just I'm always bringing a new problem up. There's tension in the house and I try to get them to talk about it, they say they do, but it's still there. I stay with Itachi a lot lately just to get out of the tension. I miss them though."

"I'm sorry that's all happening. I don't believe the tension would be your fault. Perhaps there are other problems they aren't talking to you about?"

"Maybe... Thank you. Looks like it's time to go." Gaara said after glancing at the clock. Obito smiled at him.

"It would seem so. Gaara, thank you for another great session." Gaara nodded his head and looked out of the window and his expression scrunched into confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Uh. Itachi usually picks me up. One of my dads is here." Gaara said quietly and Obito smiled warmly.

"Oh wonderful, I would love to introduce myself." He stood up and Gaara froze.

"Uh, I don't know if-" Obito was already out of the door. Gaara trailed behind him nervously and made sure to gage Obito's expression when his eyes landed on his dad.

Obito opened the second door that led to the outside and his eyes landed on the only car in the lot besides his own. He looked at the driver and paused. His steps faltered and Gaara honestly thought he tripped.

"K-Kakashi?" He stuttered and Kakashi got out of the car.

"Yo." He waved and looked at Gaara. "You ready to go, kid?"

"Where is Itachi?" Kakashi frowned.

"Emergency at his job. You're stuck with me today." Gaara sighed, not because he was with Kakashi, but because now he wouldn't have driving lessons today before training.

"Okay. Thank you Dr. Uchiha." Gaara inclined his head at the man and got into the car. Obito still stared at Kakashi with an expression Gaara couldn't place. It was strange to see him like this. He was usually so composed.

"Kakashi?" His voice was quiet. Kakashi scratched his arm, closed his car door and walked over to his old friend. "It's... Wow. I can't believe I'm seeing you." Obito's eyes lit up. "This is so crazy. Small world." He smiled wistfully.

"Yes it is." Kakashi nodded, they were standing in front of each other. "It's been about 26 years now."

"Much too long, my friend. How are you? What's going on in your life? I see you're married, that's great. And you have a son, Lee. Wow." Obito covered his mouth slightly. "You married Guy." He said quietly and Kakashi nodded and chuckled.

"Yes. We are married. Lee and Gaara are our sons." Kakashi corrected and Obito made an apologetic gesture.

"I did not mean it that way." Kakashi didn't say anything. "Well... It was nice to see you. Gaara is a great kid. I'm sure Lee is too."

"Thank you, Tobi." Obito grinned at the nickname. "I'll see you later. Nice seeing you."

Gaara examined the way Obito looked at Kakashi as he left. Kakashi got into the car and put his seatbelt on.

"Ready to go-"

"He's in love with you." Gaara said nonchalantly. 

"What?" Gaara looked at him as Kakashi turned the car on. Gaara saw Obito go inside from the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean, what? He's in love with you." Gaara repeated and Kakashi shook his head.

"No that's not possible. Plus, it's been 27ish years since I've seen him. No one loves someone that long without seeing them." Kakashi stated flatly and started to drive. "Please, don't tell Guy that he talked to me. I don't need that headache right now." Gaara nodded. It wasn't like Gaara was withholding information that was important. 

***

As Obito watched Kakashi and Gaara drive away, he couldn't help but think of the irony that an Uchiha and a Maito were pining over the same guy and the Maito was winning.

***

"Come on, Neji!" Lee was giggling with glee. "Do not tell me you are falling behind already!" Neji glowered at his jogging partner. 

"Lee, has no one taught you to pace yourself?" Neji asked as they both jogged in place.

"I am pacing myself!" Lee said and bound away and Neji grumbled and followed Lee.

Neji couldn't understand why Lee would insist they did things together, it was getting more and more ridiculous. Yes, Neji enjoyed training. Not to the extent of Lee. They were both strong in their own ways. Neji would be faster if he pushed himself, he just didn't see the point to push himself right now if they were training endurance. Plus, the amount of muscle Lee kept putting on, it was a miracle that he could even run as fast as he could. It must be weight him down at least somewhat.

Neji was built like a runner. Lithe, with muscle. He wasn't weak by any means. Lee was on his way to just being ripped. Neji didn't understand why Lee wanted to be so muscular but didn't question it. If Lee wasn't helping out others or doing schoolwork, he was working out. He seemed to enjoy himself. 

And he had the most disgusting foods and drinks now. He always had a protein bar or shake. Not only that, but usually he made Neji one for breakfast. They a Ninja shake blender that made individual sized drinks and every morning Neji was greeted with one. So far there was only one that tasted good but Lee was always trying different fruits with his protein powder. 

After their run, Neji's clothes were decently wet with sweat. Lee's looked like he jumped into a river and drowned. 

"Hey boys!" Tenten shouted with a grin. "I tried finding you two at your dorm but you weren't there. Now I see why. Did you go swimming?" Neji scowled and looked over at Lee.

"No. He dragged me on a 5 mile run." Tenten blinked and then gagged.

"Oh gross! So that's all sweat?!" She yelled and Lee laughed happily and opened his arms.

"Would you like a hug, Tenten?" He took a few steps towards her and she shrieked and jumped back.

"Ew! No! Go take a shower and burn those clothes! Neji! Drag him to the shower!" Tenten yelled and Neji rolled his eyes and grabbed Lee by the back of his shirt and cringed at the wet squishing noise it made when he clenched the fabric.

"Oh god. I may vomit." Neji said quietly and threw the keys at Tenten. "Grab us clothes please." Tenten nodded and ran off to their dorm room while Neji and Lee went to the bathrooms. Neji shoved Lee into a shower and turned it on.

"Ah! Neji! I am still clothed!" Neji rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't realize there was still a dry spot on your clothes." He said sarcastically. He yanked off his own shirt and pants and Lee stood there awkwardly fully dressed.

The showers in this dorm were built like a locker room. Just a large room with multiple shower heads. Apparently freshmen didn't get privacy or something. 

Neji was still in his underwear by the time Tenten strolled in with stacks of clothes for each of them and a towel. Neji grabbed them from her with a thanks. She didn't even flinch. She glanced up and grinned at Lee.

"That's one way to shower!" Lee blushed.

"Wh-what are you doing in the men's bathroom?" He asked and Neji sent a look his way of annoyance.

"You're the one completely dressed here. You don't get to be embarrassed." He said and Tenten giggled.

"Your shampoo and conditioner is folded into your towel." She said and walked to the exit. "I'll be watching Netflix on your laptop!" She left the room and Neji shook his head. He placed his and Lee's stacks of clothes down and pulled off his underwear and put it in a pile on the ground and walked into the shower.

"Are you really taking a fully clothed shower?" Neji asked and Lee laughed and shook his head. Honestly he was a bit worried Tenten would walk in the room. There weren't a lot of people Lee felt comfortable with being completely naked. He usually showered too early in the morning to be bothered by anyone else. He didn't mind Neji, Neji was his most trusted roommate!

Lee got out from under the spray of the warm shower and yanked off his drenched clothing and put it in a sopping wet pile on the floor. He turned to face Neji as Neji yanked his hair out of the messy bun he put it in when he was working on something. It was always impressive how even after wrapping his hair up the way he did, it would fall down without an indent. Lee pulled his own hair out of the headband he had. His hair was longer than before, not really long enough for a ponytail so he settled with a headband. He got one in black to remind him of Gaara's when Gaara was in the kitchen. Lee smiled at the memory.

Taking a shower did wonders for his muscles. It felt fantastic. Next to him, Neji was scrubbing the hell out of his scalp and frowning with how much the long strands of hair that fell out got tangled in his fingers.

"You lose a lot of hair." Lee commented and Neji frowned at him.

"Everyone loses 50-100 strands of hair each day. It just looks like a lot because my hair is longer than yours is." Neji stated factually and Lee grinned.

"I am only teasing you. You do not have to be so upset. I do not think you are going bald." Lee teased and reached out and ran his fingers through Neji's hair. "So soft." Lee said and smiled. Neji paused and tensed under Lee's fingers.

Lee retracted his hand without the slightest inclination of what he did and continued cleaning off the sweat from his body. Neji slowly went back to cleaning his hair and glanced at Lee discreetly as water sprayed over Lee's face. Neji's eyes briefly scanned Lee's body and all his muscles shiny with water. Neji quickly averted his attention and closed his eyes in frustration. He didn't like that he was actually looking at Lee like how he was. And he especially didn't like the strange feeling in his stomach he got from looking at said roommate. He quickly turned the water off and rung out his hair, grabbing the towel and wiping his body off. 

"Hey, you done already?" Lee asked and turned to face Neji. Neji was thankfully able to hide the blush and just nodded.

"Yeah. I will see you in the room." He grabbed his pile of clothes and left without getting dressed. Lee stayed in the shower confused.

Neji pushed the door open of his dorm room with the towel wrapped around his hips, holding a pile of dirty clothes in one hand and clean clothes in the other and his hair that clung to his damp body. Tenten looked up from the couch and blinked.

"You alright there?" She asked and Neji looked at her and she smiled. "Oh, you're embarrassed? What happened?" Neji glared at her and threw his dirty clothes in the hamper and put his clean clothes on the bed. He sat down in the towel and started brushing his hair and Tenten paused her show. "Seriously, what happened?"

"Nothing, Tenten." He said with a bite to it. She frowned.

"Neji. We're best friends. What happened?" She asked again and he glared at her. "It's about Lee." She answered and he didn't say anything. "What happened with Lee?"

"Nothing happened with him." Neji was brushing his hair with a bit more aggression than usual. He grabbed his hair oil and started running it through with his hands, ignoring Tenten's presence. 

"Are you attracted to Lee?" Tenten asked with a hint of teasing. She saw his body tense up and grinned. "I knew it!"

"Tenten!" He yelled and glared at her. "Stop!"

"Come on, Neji. It's cute. He's like a puppy. And he's buff as hell. You can be attracted to him. I would be too if I saw him naked in the shower." She grinned and Neji's face burned and he just glowered and started to get dressed, uncaring that Tenten was there.

When he was done, he hung his towel and sat next to Tenten, crossing his arms with a hard look on his face.

"You better tell me if you two have sex." She said seriously and he glared at her for the hundredth time that day. "What? You have ample time. You're in the SAME DORM ROOM." She opened her arms, gesturing to the room. Before Neji could scold her again, Lee walked in the room in his pajamas and a towel around his neck.

"Thank you for the clothes, Tenten!" He said with a smile. He put his wet lump of clothes in a bag, then put them in the hamper. "I feel refreshed!" He put the towel over his head and rubbed it all over his hair, drying it. When he pulled the towel off, he hung it up near Neji's and pushed his hair back off his forehead. The normally flat fallen hairs now had more volume pushed backwards and Tenten giggled.

"Aw you look so cute with your hair like that." She complimented. "Doesn't he, Neji?" She goaded and he gave her a look.

"Oh thank you Tenten! I was thinking about cutting it actually-"

"No." Neji cut off a bit more forcefully than he should've. Lee paused and Neji surprisingly composed himself just fine. "It looks better this way." He said quietly a moment later and Lee smiled warmly.

"Thank you, Neji. Now, what are we watching?" He asked and sat down on the free spot on the couch, putting Tenten in the middle. She gave Neji a look and he wondered what the hell she was going to do now.

"Hey Neji, can we switch spots? I need to charge my phone and your spot is closer to my charger." She said with a sweet smile. If looks could kill...

Even with his clearly displeased look, he switched spots with her without further comment. Counting that as a victory, she began to charge her phone.

***

Tenten smiled at them a few hours later, after the movie was over. Lee was asleep, leaning on the arm of the couch and Neji fell asleep at some point too. He slept, laying against Lee and Lee's arm was on his back. They looked so cute. Tenten took a picture with an evil cackle and posted it on her Instagram.

_My two boys worked themselves too hard today! Aren't they the cutest?? @Hyuuga_Neji @O.G_RockLee Don't kill me for this picture, Neji [cry laughing emoji]_

***

Gaara looked down at his phone and saw his best friend was calling.

"Ino?"

"Gaara!" She yelled into the receiver. "What is this ho doing laying on your man!?" She yelled into the phone and Gaara blinked.

"I have literally no idea what you're talking about." Gaara said and Ino sent him a screenshot. Gaara pulled the phone away to look at what she was referring to. Lee was sleeping with what looked like Neji laying on him. When he saw the tags he could be sure it was Neji. His hair was pretty everywhere though. "Oh." 

"Oh?"

"I..." Gaara sighed. "I really don't know what to say to that. We aren't dating. I can't do anything."

"You should post a picture of your own!" Ino said loudly and Gaara failed to see how that would accomplish anything. "It doesn't even have to be something like that, just to show him that you are having a good time without him too."

"Ino, you're so spiteful." Gaara said with a smirk on his face. "But I have no one to really take pictures with so that is a failure."

"What about Naruto and Itachi?" Gaara didn't see how that would help but he did have some pictures from their driving lessons.

"You really think I should? I don't see how that would do anything. Wouldn't that just... stir the pot?"

"Bitch, I don't need that pot stirred, I need it bubbling over." Gaara frowned.

"Ino." She groaned.

"Gaara! Stop being so mature at 17! Come one! Be spiteful with me!" Gaara smiled, Ino could always cheer him up.

"Fine. I will upload a completely innocent picture to maybe, perhaps, probably not even bother Lee to make you happy."

"Thank you. If it isn't good enough, I will intervene." Gaara could not see how that would go over well.

"Deal." Ino grinned.

"Awesome! I'll talk to you later. I look forward to seeing your picture!" She hung up and he rolled his eyes and looked through his gallery. 

He chose the picture Naruto took on his phone. One of their lessons was driving through the mountains and Naruto took a picture of all of them with their town in the background. It looked beautiful. Naruto was holding the camera so he was up front grinning like a madman, Gaara was behind him but he was looking off to the side with obvious surprise, honestly the lighting made his hair and eyes brighter and his freckles were more noticeable. Itachi was standing next to Gaara and he looked confused in the same direction Gaara was looking off to.

_Selfie of @NotADrugDealer, @Uchiha_Itachi and I after we saw deer fornicating in the woods. Cheers, Naruto. Thank you for commemorating this terrible moment in my life._

__***NotADrugDealer** OHHH THAT’S WHERE I TOOK THIS PIC. I THOUGHT I TOOK IT AND I WAS PISSED CUZ I THOUGHT I DELETED IT  
***Uchiha_Itachi** There was no reason to bring this picture back into my life, I trusted you, Gaara.  
***iNoEverything** Those eyes though! [heart eyes emoji]  
***BombAssArt** I'm glad we were able to see the exact moment your soul left your body, yeah.  
***LavenderSun** Very pretty background though! : ) 

Well, obviously if Tenten posted a picture of Lee sleeping he wouldn't find this right away. His phone buzzed again and he sighed and saw Ino tagged him in something. Gaara groaned. This must mean the picture wasn't good enough. He clicked on it and it was Kiba and Deidara shirtless with paint all over themselves. Kiba was laughing and Deidara was pouting and glaring at the camera. His hair was soaked with paint.

_@StudMuffin Look what you have to look forward to when you come to college with me~! ;)_

__***BombAssArt** COME ON! I THOUGHT YOU DELETED THAT, YEAH!  
***BitchesLoveMe** But I look good AF in it so it's fine.  
***BombAssArt** YOU MAY LOOK GOOD BUT ONLY BECAUSE WE SEE YOUR MUSCLES! I LOOK LIKE A DROWNED RAT  
***iNoEverything** Sooo not much different than you normally look?  
***StudMuffin** Ino, I'm not completely sure how this is supposed to convince me to go to college with you.  
***iNoEverything** Sorry, I didn't have hot guys on hand to post a picture with. :/  
***BitchesLoveMe** Y the fuck u lyin? Y u always lyin?  
***BombAssArt** I am a hot commodity tbh and this is slander. I can sue, yeah.  
***StudMuffin** When you can find hot guys, then you may have a point.  
***NotADrugDealer** HAHA IF YOU WANT HOT GUYS THEN YOU SHOULD GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE WITH ME.  
***Uchiha_Sasuke** Are you hitting on Gaara?  
***Uchiha_Itachi** Are you hitting on Gaara?  
***iNoEverything** Are you hitting on Gaara?  
***iNoEverything** EYYYYY #twinning  
***Uchiha_Itachi** Twin would insinuate there's two of us and there is three. #tripletting  
***NotADrugDealer** If I have to hit on Gaara for someone to go to college with me, so be it.  
***StudMuffin** Wow, Naruto, I didn't know you felt that way. I'm flattered.  
***NotADrugDealer** I do what I can. How about it? You. Me. The dojo. Me totally KICKING YOUR ASS  
***StudMuffin** Not really the most romantic date I've been on but I'll take it.  
***BombAssArt** Wow, someone should really take you out on a good date, yeah.  
***iNoEverything** Are you offering?  
***StudMuffin** Are you offering?  
***iNoEverything** EYYYYYYY #twinning  
***O.G_RockLee** Why do I always wake up to the strangest conversations?  
***iNoEverything** HI LEE. DID YOU ENJOY YOUR NAP???  
***O.G_RockLee** Uh. Yes?  
***iNoEverything** SO ANYWAY, GAARA WE SHOULD TOTALLY FIND YOU A BOYFRIEND. DEIDARA SEEMS INTERESTED IN YOUR DATING LIFE. HE ALWAYS SAYS YEAH.  
***BombAssArt** No I don't, yeah  
***BombAssArt** ...Damn it.  
***NotADrugDealer** HEY NO! WAIT! GAARA WAS MY DATE.  
***Uchiha_Sasuke** Excuse me?  
***Uchiha_Itachi** Excuse me?  
***iNoEverything** EYYYYY #twinning..? 

Gaara stared at his phone and blinked. How did any of this continue to happen? He shook his head and felt his phone vibrate. A text from Lee.

**I still think you should go to college with me : ) <3**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. We got so much tea this chapter amirite? 
> 
> **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  As I've mentioned before, Gaara and Lee's singing voices are taken from Casey Breves and Sam Tsui (I really recommend you listen to them!) the play plot was originally not part of the story. The singing was supposed to come from the cafe which was going to have an open mic night. Lee was going to sing "Thinking out loud" on stage the day Gaara found out about Sakura and he was going to go on stage and create a mashup with Lee by singing "I'm not the only one". After the song, Gaara was going to shove the microphone into Lee's hands and leave, confusing the audience. That's when Gaara and Lee had their whole falling out!
> 
> 1) Any drama you want with Obito?  
> 2) Neji and Lee are getting closer~! How y'all feel?  
> 3) As of now who is the character you get most excited when they show up?


	63. Chapter 63

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ino is baaack  
> Kakashi gets a hallpass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : I love writing the messaging. It's super fun lol. Guy is hella insecure this chappie.  
>  **RainiDayz** : A LOT OF THIS CHAPTER IS KAKASHI AND GUY. Yay. That's funny how your BF is Kakashi and your'e Guy. My husband is Guy and I'm Kakashi. (He's mad about it tho cause Kakashi is his favorite)  
>  **MirSama** : BecaUSE I NEED THEM. I know. Kakashi is fire, yo.  
>  **AshBoopTaylor** : Aw I'm glad it saved your life. I hope the next few chapters will also save your life. You can always read my superhero fic if you're bored. (It'll keep you entertained for about 5 minutes since it's only 6k but, ya know. I love Ino she will always be here. She has a large role this chapter with Deidara. I'll totally have Naruto and Sasuke fight at the dojo next chapter. It seems fun lol. Thank you!  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Thank you! And enjoy this chapter, Deidara has a large role in it!  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Yeah sorry, bro. I don't even know what I'm doing at this point tbh. I'm glad you like their dynamic and Gaara and Ino. Those are some of my favorite interactions to write (Deidara is getting up there already lol)  
>  **Lolipopgang71** : I'll have you shipping a multitude of random pairings. This story is just a huge mess lmao. Half the time I reread a chapter like "oh man, didn't mean to cause that drama". I love my Uchiha bois. We get Madara later on too. <3 Neji and Lee will be nice and epic for however long they last. There will always be instabattles. And I listened to the petty song and laughed, I love it. Headcannon accepted. I sort of did the jealousy thing in this chapter, hope you enjoy that. Thank you for all of your insight! That was wonderful! (btw the guy whos other personality had diabetes was super interesting) I will love to bring Gaara closer to Art. He has a lot of art buddies now. :) I'm glad I could give some semblance to DID! Thank you!

Chapter Sixty-Three:

"Gaara!" Gaara winced at the sheer loudness of Ino. She probably didn't even need to use the phone to talk to Gaara she was so damn loud.

"What?" He asked and she giggled.

"I'm on my way to see you~!" Gaara blinked. Right now he was at Itachi's house with Naruto. Itachi went to do something so it was just the two of them.

"Where are you? I'm not home right now. Why are you coming down?"

"I'll be in Freytown in like 40 minutes. I figured you wouldn't be home, that's why I'm calling. I'm coming down because we have break all week for whatever reason. The teachers are doing a conference or whatever I don't care. I just was excited to see you~!" She giggled gleefully.

"Ino... What are you planning?" Gaara asked slowly and Ino didn't respond. "Ino?"

"Love you, I'll be at Itachi's house in 50 minutes, bye~!" She hung up the phone and Gaara sighed.

"What was that all about?" Naruto asked and started eating the tomatoes from the bruschetta mix Gaara was marinating as he toasted the bread in the oven. Gaara grabbed another baguette and started slicing on a bias. 

"Just information that tells me I need to make more food." Naruto fist punched the air.

"Hell yeah! More food!" Gaara sighed.

"There will be more people to feed, Naruto." Naruto frowned.

"Aw man." 

For the 50 minutes it took Ino to get to the house, Gaara made a surprising amount of finger foods to make. He was supposed to make dinner and instead just made a bunch of appetizers that had Naruto drooling. Mozzarella sticks, potato skins, wings and the bruschetta. This should be enough to feed about 5 normal people. Plenty of food. He put it all on a platter and heard the front door open. He wasn't sure at this point if it was Itachi or Ino but was confused when he heard multiple footsteps. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked towards the doorway. 

"Boo!" Ino said happily and hugged her best friend. Behind her there were three people.

"You brought friends." Gaara noted.

"Yes! Well, Kiba lives in town so he wanted to see his family so I brought him. Hinata and Deidara just wanted to not go home and not stay at school. So here they are!" Gaara looked down at the platter and sighed and pulled out the cutting board again.

"Aw you made us food, yeah?" Deidara sat on one of the stools and grabbed the bruschetta first. Naruto pouted that he didn't get yelled at for eating the food when Gaara kept scolding Naruto for eating everything.

"Go ahead, Naruto." Gaara said with a sigh and Naruto grinned and grabbed a potato skin. Gaara was thankful he talked with Deidara and Hinata a bit online and Ino even had them talk to each other on FaceTime or this would've been really awkward.

"You don't have to cook anymore." Ino insisted. "We can order pizza. Let's chill at the table." Gaara nodded and brought the platter to the dining room and Ino sat down next to Gaara and Deidara sat by Ino at the head of the table. Kiba sat next to Naruto on the other side of the table and Hinata sat at the head of the table leaving an empty space by Gaara.

"When did my house become prime a hang out location?" Itachi asked with sagged shoulders once he entered the room.

"Come and eat! Gaara made food!" That was enough to shut Itachi up and sit down by Gaara. Their knees were touching and Gaara felt himself smile as everyone sat around the table and ate food.

"So Ino, what brings you and all of your friends to my house?" Itachi asked as he munched on some bruschetta. 

"Oh we had a break. So I decided to bring my friends to bother my best friend because I miss him." Ino said simply.

"These are the friends I see on Instagram?" Itachi asked and Ino nodded with a giggle. "What?"

"I don't know, you just sounded really old there for a minute." Itachi frowned and looked at Gaara.

"Do I sound old?" He asked and Gaara smirked.

"Itachi, you ARE old. You're 26." Itachi glared at him.

"Last time I do anything for you." Itachi muttered and Gaara chuckled.

"So where is the one with the eyebrows, yeah?" Deidara asked and Gaara looked at him confused.

"Lee?" A nod. "He's at school like 6 hours from here. Why?" Deidara looked at Ino and Ino just smiled innocently. "Jesus, what did you do?"

"Nothing! I haven't done a thing!" Gaara could tell she wasn't lying. However, he knew that she wasn't telling the whole truth.

"She wants to piss Lee off." Kiba said simply. "She's spiteful like that."

"Piss him off, how?" Gaara asked looking at Ino but she was purposefully ignoring his stare and looking away from him at Deidara.

"Something about taking a picture with you and a bunch of dudes or something, yeah." Ino punched Deidara's arm. "Ow! What did I do? He was gonna find out anyway, un!" 

"Ino, what are you doing?" Itachi asked blankly and her face lit up.

"Oh! Itachi! I could totally use your hot body for this!" She said, grinning and Gaara and Itachi blushed at the comment.

"Well, aren't you forward." Kiba said flatly, she ignored him.

"I'm not entirely sure what you mean..." Itachi said slowly.

"I just want Gaara to be in a picture with a bunch of shirtless guys." Ino said simply and Itachi frowned.

"I'LL DO IT!" Naruto said excitedly. They all looked at him curiously and he grinned. "Just to piss of Sasuke, ya know?" Ino grinned at him.

"Yes! Thank you! At least someone is petty with me!" Gaara blinked.

"Ino, what makes you think I want to take a picture surrounded by shirtless guys?"

"I mean, I do." Ino admitted unabashedly and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Ooo, I should call up Sai."

"Ino. Stop trying to get the whole neighborhood in on a gang bang, please." Kiba said and Deidara snorted.

"You say that like my little angelic booberry would do such a thing." Ino said with an eyeroll. "But wait, Gaara can we-"

"No." Gaara cut off flatly and she groaned. 

"You never let me do anything ever." She pouted and crossed her arms.

"Ino?" She ignored him and Gaara sighed. "Ino stop." She continued to look away. "Fine I'll take the picture but that's all." Before Gaara even finished the question Ino was squealing excitedly. Itachi frowned at that.

"Itachi you can join-"

"Honestly, I can't. Even if I wanted to. I'm Gaara's teacher for another month since the other music teacher elongated her maternity leave. The LAST thing I need is for everyone to see a picture of me shirtless with my student."

"Oh he's your student? That's kinky, un." Deidara said with a wicked grin.

"Yeah, right?" Kiba agreed and Itachi sighed.

"Come on boys!" She clapped her hands together. "Hinata you haven't said anything this entire time." Ino said with a frown.

"I-I wasn't... sure what to say." Hinata said with a blush.

"Don't worry. She'll be a freak like me soon enough." Ino said to Gaara and Gaara frowned, Hinata turned bright red.

"Don't corrupt that poor soul." Gaara argued quietly and Kiba chuckled.

"It's already begun." He yanked off his shirt and Gaara blinked.

"We're taking this picture now??" Gaara asked and Naruto whooped and practically ripped his own shirt off. Gaara shouldn't have been surprised that Naruto had as much muscle as he did considering he worked out all the time. It was still surprising to see.

"So we're taking our shirts off now, yeah?" Deidara grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and Ino stopped him.

"Dee, be a lady! Don't remove your shirt." Deidara frowned at her.

"I'm not a lady, yeah!" Ino loved getting him angry. She just grinned at him and he glared even more.

"I'm kidding, Dee." She pet the top of his head and he sighed.

"What the hell are you turning my house into?" Itachi asked with a sigh once Deidara threw off his shirt and joined Naruto and Kiba. Hinata's face was bright red and Gaara looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

"You love it. Anyway, Gaara do you mind unbuttoning your shirt?" 

"Why would you need that?" He asked slowly.

"Because if you're fully clothed and they're all shirtless it'll look like you're at a bachelorette party. If all of you look like you aren't wearing shirts then we could say there's a reason behind it and not 'This is Gaara surrounded by men' understand?" Gaara rolled his eyes and started to unbutton his shirt. Kiba started whistling just to embarrass Gaara further. "Okay, I'm going to be in the picture too but just to make this look more subtle, come on, Hinata..."

***

Lee got a notification that Gaara posted a picture for the first time in a while and sat up with a smile. He clicked on Instagram and went to Gaara's page and blinked at the photo.

Gaara was in the middle of the picture but Ino sat next to him with her legs over his lap, grinning. There was another girl that looked a lot like Neji leaning on his side. She looked a bit embarrassed. Behind them there was the blond guy Gaara talked to a lot... Deidara? He was licking Gaara's cheek and Gaara's face was scrunched. Naruto had his cheek smushed against the other side of Gaara's cheek making a kissy face and Kiba was in the middle of the two blondes with both of his hands in Gaara's hair.

_**StudMuffin** This is what happens to me when Ino comes home... @NotADrugDealer @iNoEverything @BitchesLoveMe @LavenderSun @BombAssArt What even..._

**_*BombAssArt_ ** _Yesss, I live for that look of terror in your eye, yeah [black heart emoji]  
 ***StudMuffin** Why did you use the black heart and not the pink one like everyone else?  
 ***iNoEverything** Because he's extra AF and he's a lil emo bitch.  
 ***Uchiha_Sasuke** What the hell?? Is this my living room?? @Uchiha_Itachi??  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** Huh, it looks like it. So strange. Iconic.  
 ***iNoEverything** Itachi you can always come be shirtless with everyone else, they're still half naked. [wink kiss emoji]  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** Uh. I'll pass.  
 ***NotADrugDealer** Awww Itachi you're so lame!  
 ***Uchiha_Sasuke** What the hell are you doing, Naruto??? Answer your phone!!  
 ***iNoEverything** oh damn, Naruto is dead.   
***BombAssArt** Aw man, who is gonna be the other hot blond on Gaara's left, yeah?  
 ***iNoEverything** Looks like we're down to one hot blonde now :/   
***BombAssArt** Aw, Ino. You aren't THAT ugly, yeah.  
 ***iNoEverything** I was TALKING about you.  
 ***BitchesLoveMe** I'll dye my hair blonde. I'll be the other one.  
 ***StudMuffin** Please don't.  
 ***BombAssArt** PLEASE DO!  
 ***O.G_RockLee** Why were there no shirtless parties when I was there?  
 ***BombAssArt** Cause we don't need someone with black hair. We got Hinata. We're an even six, yeah.  
 ***iNoEverything** Well we would have another black haired person if ITACHI WASN'T A BITCH  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** I'm not getting into this again.  
 ***StudMuffin** Please oh please Itachi. Please come be shirtless with me ;)))  
 ***StudMuffin** That was Ino, I apologize for that.  
 ***iNoEverything** GAARA STOP PLAYIN. IT WASN'T ME. RIGHT GUYS?  
 ***BombAssArt** oh yeah, totally Gaara, yeah. He is super into it.  
 ***BitchesLoveMe** Yeah Gaara was the one that said the thing not Ino. Why would you think it was Ino? Clearly Gaara speaks like that. And uses winky faces with 3 chins.  
 ***iNoEverything** THEY AREN'T 3 CHINS! IT'S JUST A VERY HAPPY SMILY FACE. IT'S ART.  
 ***BombAssArt** Oh yeah, totally art. Such a good art style. Inspirational.  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** Thank you for proving that clearly Gaara wrote the message.  
 ***iNoEverything** Yeah no problem. I know Gaara and I hang out so much you forget but it's okay._

Lee just stared at the picture for a while. It was unnerving to see someone who was so similar to Neji.

"Are you alright?" Lee looked up and frowned.

"Do you know someone with the Instagram handle Lavender Sun?" Neji looked slightly surprised.

"Uh, yes. That is my cousin, Hinata. Why do you ask?" Lee showed him the picture.

"Seems she knows Gaara." Neji frowned.

"It's unlike Hinata to be around so many... people." Neji said with a look of disapproval. 

"Well, if she is friends with Ino, I would not be surprised that Ino drags her places. She did that with Gaara." Lee was just noticing how close Neji was to him still. 

"So how are you feeling with the picture?" He asked and Lee sighed. "Jealous?"

"...yes." He covered his face. "It is so hard not to be! He clearly has so many options! He even has your cousin!" 

"I doubt that." Neji said flatly. "But why don't you fight back if he's making you jealous?"

"How would I do that?" Lee asked innocently, looking up at Neji.

"I have no idea, I would ask Tenten." Neji said simply and pulled away. Lee frowned and nodded. 

"There is a part of me that wishes I never went to this school since it is so far away. Another part of me is thankful because I met you and Tenten." Lee said quietly and Neji paused and looked over at Lee. "Gaara can date whomever he would like to, why do I think he would waste his time with me?"

"Lee." Neji's voice was so sharp it could cut glass. "Don't you dare start this up again. You know you're important to Gaara. But if you feel like this, why don't you find someone else for the time being? It's no good to be alone sometimes."

"I do not know that I could. Maybe. I will think about it. Goodnight Neji." Lee shut off his desk light and Neji watched Lee climb up to his bed with a clenched jaw.

***

"Great news everyone!" Naruto announced after he got off the phone. "Sasuke is coming down too."

"Oh boy." Ino cackled. "how much trouble are you in?" Naruto glared at her.

"It's whatever. I did it to get his attention and that's what I got. If he keeps ignoring me, I'll keep pissing him off." 

"Sounds like sound logic, un." Deidara commented simply and lounged on the couch, not caring much that his feet were now in Gaara's lap. Gaara didn't look very happy.

"I wonder if he'll retaliate." Ino said randomly.

"Who?" Kiba asked.

"Lee. I wanted to do this to piss Lee off since Lee is pissing me off with Neji." Hinata looked up and blinked.

"That's so weird, my cousin's name is Neji." She said and Ino looked at her.

"...Oh my god! You two look alike! Hyuuga? Jesus! You even have the same last name! I'm so stupid."

"First step is admittance." Kiba said slyly and Deidara high fived him and Ino glared at both of them.

"Don't you have a home here to get to?" She asked and Kiba rolled his eyes at her.

"Man, Gaara. I don't know how you deal with Ino as much as you did in high school." Kiba mumbled.

"To be completely honest, I have wondered the same thing myself."

"You all suck and I hate you."

***

"Kakashi, you've been acting kind of funny lately." Guy said finally and Kakashi looked up from his book.

"How?"

"Like... you feel guilty." Kakashi frowned.

"Why do you say that?" Kakashi asked and Guy sighed and sat down.

"Ever since you saw Obito at Gaara's appointment you've been overcompensating. Made me my favorite foods when Gaara wasn't here to cook, you packed me lunch for work with a cute note in it, you even got me flowers!" Kakashi frowned and looked away.

"You like flowers..." He mumbled.

"Yes, flowers are a most beautiful way to show your beloved how much they mean to you. But that is not how you show your love. Ever. Our entire 27 years of being together. Not once have you bought me flowers." Kakashi's frown deepened. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Guy-"

"Kakashi." Guy's expression showed Kakashi that there wasn't any getting around this. Kakashi rubbed his face.

"I talked to Obito for a few minutes when I picked up Gaara." Kakashi admitted and Guy raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?"

"He... may have asked me to get a drink with him... But I said no." Kakashi said firmly. "That's it."

"..." Guy looked at the ground. "Are you still... attracted to him?"

"Jesus, Guy. Why are you asking these questions?"

"Just answer it." Kakashi bit his tongue and closed his eyes. He was never really one to lie.

"Yes. But that doesn't mean anything. I'm in love with you." Guy didn't look very happy.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Kakashi said confused. "What the hell does okay mean?"

"I'm willing..." Guy shifted on his feet not knowing how to phrase what he wanted to say. "I'm willing to give you a hallpass." Kakashi's eyes widened.

"Hallpass? Why would I need that?"

"To do something about it." Guy said and sat on the couch a cushion away from Kakashi. "One hallpass. One night. No questions asked."

"Guy, why would you...?"

"Because I think you need it."

"I don't want a fucking hallpass."

"Rival! Just take it. For me. And then let's be done with it. No more talk of Obito. He's out of our lives besides Gaara's. I'm not having him be the reason for my marriage to be broken."

"Guy! We've been married for 25 years and you think I'm going to divorce you just like because a fling from over 20 years ago showed up? I'm not taking the stupid hallpass and I'm done with this conversation."

"Just take the hallpass, Kakashi! I don't want you to regret giving your whole life to me when we were only 18." Kakashi blinked.

"Do you want a hallpass?" Guy shook his head.

"No. You're the only person I've been with, I have no desire for anyone but you." Kakashi's eyes steeled over.

"So you think because I was such a slut before we met that I would want to fuck Obito?"

"No! Don't put words in my mouth, Kakashi!"

"Well you're being ridiculous!"

"Just get drinks with him then!"

"You know what? Fine. I'll get drinks with him. Tomorrow night." Kakashi stood up and stormed out of the room. Guy knew he won the argument, but why did it not feel like he won at all?

***

"Boo-bear, your phone is ringing." Deidara said to Gaara and Gaara groaned at the nickname. Ever since Kiba and Deidara heard Ino call him 'Boo' they decided to do their own variation of boo nicknames when they got the chance. Gaara grabbed the phone from Deidara and saw Guy was calling him. Strange.

"Hello?"

"Gaara! Thank god! You're at Itachi's, right?" Gaara's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Uh. Yeah. Why?"

"I need your help! I am coming to get you now!" Guy hung up the phone and Gaara sighed. Looks like he had to get out of pajamas...

"Guy is coming to get me. I have to get changed." Gaara said to Ino and Deidara. They nodded. Kiba went home the day before, Naruto was talking to Sasuke and Hinata was... somewhere.

Gaara walked up the stairs to Itachi's room and knocked on the door. Sure, Sasuke was here and more his clothing size, but Gaara preferred wearing Itachi's clothes. Itachi opened the door and looked surprised to see Gaara.

"Hey." Itachi smiled softly at him and Gaara was irritated to know that it still made his stomach feel funny to see Itachi.

"Hi. I was wondering if I could borrow some clothes? Guy is apparently picking me up, I doubt we're going home." Itachi nodded and played with the bottom hem of Gaara's shirt.

"You go from my pajamas to my regular clothes." He smirked and Gaara bit his cheek to stop himself from smiling. "Yeah let's get you dressed." He opened the door more and let Gaara by. Gaara went to Itachi's closet and searched for a plain set of clothes. Itachi sat on the bed and watched Gaara pick something to wear. When he was done, Gaara walked to the bed and put the shirt and pants down and looked at Itachi.

"You watching the show?" He asked and Itachi smirked at him.

"Can I?" Gaara raised a brow and pulled his shirt off. Itachi breathed in slowly as Gaara yanked the drawstring around the pajama pants loose and pushed them down his legs. "You put on a nice amount of muscle." Gaara curled the corner of his lip up in a slight smile and pulled the shirt on over his shoulders. It was a button up shirt and the cuffs weren't buttoned together either. Gaara frowned. "Let me." Itachi grabbed Gaara by the arm and pulled him closer and buttoned his cuffs together slowly, making eye contact. Once he was done, he began buttoning up Gaara's shirt, purposefully brushing his knuckles against Gaara's skin making him shiver at the touch. Gaara looked into Itachi's eyes and everything felt just too intense for the moment. He felt them getting closer, he felt Itachi's breath on his face.

"Hey Gaara! Guy is here!" Itachi smiled with his teeth, it was a pretty sight.

"I'm not even surprised." Itachi whispered and Gaara swallowed thickly and pulled away from Itachi and yanked up the pants.

"Neither am I."

"Will you be back later?" Itachi asked and Gaara smiled.

"Do you want me back later?" He asked.

"Of course, you know I do." Itachi said softly.

"Then I'll be back." Gaara rolled up the pants around his ankles and Itachi smiled watching him. Once he was done, Gaara left the room and waved.

Gaara walked downstairs and Ino gave him a smirk. He rolled his eyes and she opened the door.

"Come on Deidara, we're going for a ride." Ino said and he hopped up.

"What about Hinata?" Gaara asked and Ino smiled.

"She's hanging out with Naruto and Sasuke, I believe her calm demeanor is the only reason they haven't committed a murder yet." With that they left the house and got into a car with a very confused Guy.

"Hello pops!" Ino greeted, sitting behind Gaara so she could smile at Guy.

"Ino? I didn't know you were home."

"Yup. For a week. So what are we doing? This is Deidara by the way, don't feel the need to interact with him. He's deaf. And mute. And blind." Deidara went to speak but Guy just went right into it.

"I gave Kakashi a hallpass and now I'm freaking out and I want to ignore it but I feel like I'm dying." Ino blinked.

"Gaara, boo, get in the back seat with Dee. I gotta be up front for this." She said and Gaara got out of the car and Ino climbed over the seat. "Where are they?" Ino asked and Gaara got into the back seat and closed the door. "Shit, Dee, can you get my bag from the car?"

"I thought I was blind, deaf and dumb." Deidara said dryly.

"Oh wow, you're cured. It's a Christmas miracle." Ino responded and Deidara groaned and got out of the car and jogged over to Ino's truck and grabbed a bag and ran back to Guy's car and got inside. He handed the bag to Ino and she opened it and shuffled through some things and pulled out a set of high quality binoculars. 

"Ino..." Gaara said slowly.

"No honey, you don't want to know." Ino said and Gaara nodded and closed his mouth. "Let's go, pops." Guy nodded and turned the car on and they were off. "Where is he going?"

"The bar in town. P&G's I think?" Ino nodded, mainly a college kid place but it had good wings.

"Okay and what about who he's with?" Guy sighed.

"Obito?" Gaara asked from the back seat and Guy's shoulder's sagged. "Really?"

"Wait, what's a hallpass?"

"It's the thing they give you in high school to let you go from one room to the other without getting a detention." Gaara said tonelessly and Ino laughed in the front seat.

"Gaara! You're so cute!" She wiped her eyes.

"What? Isn't that what a hallpass is?" Now Deidara and Gaara were confused.

"No! I mean... yes. But no. A hallpass is when you let your significant other hook up with someone without any consequences." She explained and Gaara blinked.

"Really? People do that?" Ino turned around and looked at him.

"Well obviously, Gaara." She scoffed and Gaara nodded awkwardly.

"Okay, Deidara, since Kakashi doesn't know you, you should go to the bar with this..." Ino looked through her bag and pulled out a microphone and wire. "So you can eavesdrop on their conversation for us." She leaned back and started hooking it up to Deidara.

"Ino-"

"Gaara, seriously don't ask." She said again and he frowned. What the hell was his best friend doing when he wasn't around? "And we can listen with this..." She pulled out a small speaker and plugged it in to the car and smiled.

"Okay, so you want me to go to the bar, by myself un, and just sit there next to two strangers and hope they don't question why I'm sitting so close to them, un? Should I shove the microphone in their face too?" Deidara asked with a scowl.

"You're right. It would be weird to go in alone but Kakashi knows what all of us look like... Hold on, I'll get you a date." Ino said as Guy pulled into a parking spot right in front of the bar. Looking in the window they could easily see Kakashi sitting at the bar with Obito. Guy growled. "Go inside!" She yelled and Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Who are they?" He asked and Gaara nudged his head.

"The guy with the silver hair is Kakashi and the guy with the black hair is Obito. They're at the bar." Deidara nodded and Ino turned on the microphone and he was off.

"Hey!" Ino said happily. "It's been a while. Listen, I'm in town today and I would really love if you can do me a favor?" Ino bit her lip. "Really? Thank you so much! How fast can you make it to P&G's?" She waited. "Oh 10 minutes? That's good. Okay. Thank you!" She hung up and Gaara looked at her. "Again, don't ask." Gaara was always amazed how high pitched Ino's voice got when she was manipulating a guy.

"Well, they don't seem to be looking like they're intimate." Gaara pointed out and Ino rolled her eyes.

"Kakashi is too old to be getting frisky on a bar." She said simply and they watched Deidara awkwardly sit close to Kakashi and Obito but not so close that it looked weird. Ino turned on the speaker and they all jerked back with how loud the music was.

"What can I get for you?"

"Uh, can I get some um water? I'm waiting for a friend, yeah."

"Sure thing."

Ino smacked her forehead.

"Man I wish I could've gone in. Deidara is a fucking spaz." She sighed and messed with the knobs of the speaker trying to get the voices louder. Finally she got it and they all heard Kakashi's voice, clear as day.

_"I still can't believe out of all the people who could've been Gaara's therapist it was you. What are the chances?"_

_"I know. It's weird, haha."_

_"How is he doing?"_

_"Gaara? You know I can't talk about my patient..."_

_"I don't want specifics. I just want to know if you think he's okay. I haven't seen him in a while I just want to know if he's... healing."_

_"The most I can say is he is a lot better than he was. And I'm proud of him. He's a good kid. He speaks highly of you and Guy."_

_"Well, I'm happy to hear that."_

_"It's good that you were there with him for that parental bond. You're a good father, Kakashi."_

_"Eh, sometimes."_

_"Sometimes?"_

_"Parenting Gaara is one thing, he's grown already, he's mellow, easy to handle. Lee on the other hand, heheh. Lee is just like Guy."_

_"Just like him?"_

_"I mean he doesn't challenge me randomly but other than that, they're the same person." Obito laughed heartily._

_"I remember that! Your eternal rival Maito Guy! He challenged you to something every time he saw you. Oh man I remember how much he annoyed you."_

_"All I wanted was to sit around and do nothing during gym class and he made it impossible. **Rival! I challenge you to a rock climbing competition. Rival! I challenge you to a jump rope competition!** I'm fairly certain I was challenged to rock paper scissors more than once."_

_"Man, those were the days, weren't they? And every month you'd come home with a bouquet of flowers that you said you hated with a passion yet after the second time he bought flowers for you, you bought a vase to keep them in."_

_"Why do you have to bring up such embarrassing memories?"_

_"It's a gift."_

_"Do you remember when a year later he asked me out and I told you how annoying it was that he kept asking me out and you said-"_

_"Say yes, what's the worst that can happen?" Obito sounded wistful. "Yeah. I remember. Turns out the answer is marry the guy."_

_"You were so angry when we started dating that you called him every variation of the word 'Guy' and never called him 'Guy'. How is dude? Where is male? Have you seen gentleman?"_

_"How is fellow doing today? Yeah I remember. You always corrected me with that bitch face you get."_

_"Bitch-face? I don't get a bitch face."_

_"You're literally giving me one right now."_

_"Suck a dick, Obito."_

Ino's phone started to ring and she answered it quickly.

"Hey! Yeah I'm in the car. Hold on." She got out of the car and waited there until a guy walked over and hugged her. Gaara couldn't hear the sound of them talking through the muffled glass but he was more curious of what Sai was doing there. She pointed inside and Sai nodded and she clapped and hugged him again and got back in the car. "Sai will be taking care of things." She said and they watched Sai sit down next to Deidara. It was hard to hear Kakashi and Obito but they got a lot of them laughing.

Guy stared at their backs with a look of contemplation. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to say something but at the same time, what was Kakashi doing wrong? He was just doing what Guy told him to do. And now he was enjoying time with his friend.

_"You ready to get out of here?"_

_"Yeah, let's go."_

Guy frowned and quickly started the car and drove off a bit to stay out of sight from Kakashi and Obito. They all watched as the two left the bar and walked towards Obito's car. They both climbed in and drove off.

Sai and Deidara ran out shortly after and jumped into the car quickly and Guy drove off.

"So what exactly is going on?" Sai asked.

"We're stalking people, yeah." Deidara said simply and Sai frowned.

"Ino, why do you always drag me on your stalking missions?" He asked and Gaara frowned.

"Why don't you ever drag me on your stalking missions?" He questioned and Ino giggled nervously.

"Enough of that, we're stalking. Guy don't follow them too closely."

"I'm following as far away as I can." Guy argued. It didn't take long from that point but finally they pulled by an apartment complex where Kakashi and Obito were walking towards. Guy gripped the steering wheel and a burning filled his gut like fiendfyre. 

"Guy-"

"No." Guy shook his head and watched them go inside, his jaw clenched tight.

"Do you want to-"

"No."

***

Guy pulled into his driveway after dropping the kids off at Itachi's house. He left shortly after he saw Kakashi walk inside and couldn't sit there anymore. He didn't want the kids around to see him upset so he quickly dropped them off and made his way home. He turned the lights on, hung up his jacket and took his shoes off. When he looked up, he saw Kakashi sitting on the couch reading a book.

"R-rival?" He sputtered and Kakashi looked up.

"Hey. It took you long enough. I've been here for like a half an hour. Where were you?" Guy couldn't form a sentence, he just ran over to his husband and hugged him tightly with crocodile tears running down his face. His husband didn't use his hallpass. "I love you, Guy." Guy nodded against his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  THE STORY IS OFFICIALLY 501 PAGES RIGHT NOW! (Jesus kill me.)  
> The original girlfriend of Lee was supposed to be Hinata but I couldn't do it. His girlfriend was meant to be there to kind of manipulate him in a sense to do (what Sakura did) and I couldn't have Hinata do that so I changed the character. Ino was also a candidate but I decided on Sakura because I dislike her the most. (Can you imagine?? Who would be the story's Ino if Ino was the story's Sakura??)
> 
> 1) In this story what is your favorite thing to read? (The angst, fluff or smut?)  
> 2) If you had to choose two characters to always interact in every chapter, who would it be? (and why?)  
> 3) Honestly, what made you read this story? (this is more for the people who saw a story that was 200k words and still going and thought "I got time" lmao)  
> 4) Who is your Naruto OTP, BrOTP and nOTP? (In Naruto, not the story. I'm just curious. Mine is Gaa/Lee, Kakashi/Guy, and Sakura/literally anyone.


	64. Chapter 64

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filler  
> Hanging out with friends  
> Cards Against Humanity  
> Neji and Lee getting a bit drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **RainiDayz** : Everyone loves Kakashi and Guy and I'm wondering if it's just they like the characters or the way I write the characters at this point lol. I can't even imagine a time where the story wasn't over 100k... Sasuke is a little bitch TBH  
>  **MirSama** : I don't like Hinata and Naruto together either. It's funny, I liked it when I was younger and thought they were cute ad it was sweet she had a crush but as I got older I was like "no, Hinata. you two wouldn't work out..."  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Good choices. Aw that's so sweet, are you and Desbelleschoses friends IRL? I'm glad I was able to have you make questionable decisions with your sleeping habits. I don't have many OTPs. I can't remember them, actually. Also, I asked a question on your last sentence, I didn't really understand it. Also, idk if you read Mama yet but **Congratulations** You are commenter 450. You can choose a oneshot. blah blah, you've won before, you know the drill lol.  
>  **stary0606** : That makes sense! Angst makes fluff sweeter! I get you. I'm glad you were able to fall in love with the characters coming into the story without really liking the pairings! I love to hear that. I hope kakashi and guy daddys are everything you hoped they would be. You're welcome! I hope you're enjoying the ride!  
>  **AshBoopTaylor** : I love angst too. it's life tbh. They do, don't they? It's crazy that Ino didn't show up until like Chapter 23 or whatever. I feel like she was always there. I feel you with avoiding responsibilities. I haven't seen Naruto in a while and I'm rewatching it too. (Episode 179 of the original Naruto right now.) I love Lee. Thank you for calling my crackfic a masterpiece. I used to love Kabuto but he went a little bit too crazy. I don't like Sasuke typically, I make fun of him a lot in the story but again, he's just a teenager growing up. And he has his older bro here so he isn't a bitch. (well...)  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Why is it going to kill you?? I know, I bring Ino in randomly just for that. (I hate when fics are abandoned :() Hahaha I'm glad you thought it would only be fluff. You know I read like 70 baking puns until I picked the title to this story? I used to love KakaIru. idk what happened. I mean I still like them but I just have such a love for Guy since I got older.   
> **Rae** : I tried to put more Hinata in this chapter for you lol. Really?? You didn't even ship GaaLee before? I thought you would've for some reason lol. I'm glad you're still wit me <3 (I have more notps than otps, honestly)  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : YO NEITHER CAN I. MADARA WILL BE LIT. I planned for him to make it seem more like he did use the hallpass but Kakashi would never. He loves his neurotic husband too much. I'm happy to have Sasuke back for a bit. I ignored him for a while. I love the Instagram chats too. They're fun. Angsty smut? Huh, would that be more the ItaGaa smut or the GaaLee smut? Really? You're the first to say Naruto and Gaara! Aw my best friend's husband is in the Military so I feel you, she tells me that stuff all the time. Thank you for your sacrifice for the country! I'm amazed you weren't like "damn this bitch is still updating, just stop already" lmao. You have interesting ships! I actually stumbled across a MinaNaru story (weird, I know but it was like 200k and I was bored, really good storyline a lot of fighting, pretty cool story actually not much romance) anyway, it was the first time I saw OroTsuJira and I was like "damn son I never even thought about it" lmao. I'm so glad you say anything with Sakura. I really hate seeing ships with Sakura (I didn't even want to put Lee/Sakura in my description because I hate that pairing so much and I didn't want to scare readers away but I put it anyway to not lie to anyone. Sad)

Chapter Sixty-Four:

"When did my house become a home for wayward children?" Itachi asked, standing in the doorway to the living room where everyone seemed to be camping out in. The floor was covered in blankets and sleeping bags. Itachi didn't even realize he had that many sleeping bags. 

Gaara, Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata and Deidara were all sitting on the floor in a circle playing Cards Against Humanity, all holding a beer.

"Come join us~!" Ino said with a grin. "You'll be fun to play with."

"Wow, Ino. Put it in your pants will you, un?" Deidara said with a smirk and Ino rolled her eyes. Itachi went to decline but Gaara scooted closer to Ino so there was a space in-between him and Deidara. "Wow, thanks, Gaara. Good to know I'm your favorite, yeah."

"You all should really be sleeping..." Itachi mumbled but walked over and was given his 7 cards. 

"Want a beer?" Sasuke offered and Itachi sighed.

"Fine. You shouldn't be drinking though." He scolded half-heartedly.

"Yeah whatever." Sasuke handed him a beer and Gaara scrunched his face.

"Don't like Guinness?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"No. He usually drinks Lee's wine coolers." Sasuke teased with a smirk. Gaara frowned.

"Well yeah, those actually taste decent. I love cooking with Guinness, hell, I even like baking with it. Drinking it straight is nothing short of awful." Ino looked at him as she took a sip of her own Guinness. She made sure to maintain eye contact as she chugged the rest of the bottle.

"Guinness is good, you just have a sweet tooth. You with your Ice Wine and your wine coolers. I'm amazed you've been drunk before." Gaara glared at her.

"I'll have you know Ice Wine is 13% alcohol." 

"I love Ice Wine." Hinata said with a smile. 

"See? Hinata appreciates it." Gaara said with a glare to Ino.

"This is what happens after you date Itachi. You get all spoiled and drink things like Ice Wine." Ino said with disdain.

"Itachi, tell her it isn't true." Gaara said, looking at the older male. Itachi chuckled.

"I can't lie to you Gaara. I did spoil you." Itachi all but purred. Gaara glowered and crossed his arms. "Would you like me to go get you some Ice Wine?" Gaara actually perked up.

"You have some?" Itachi smirked.

"I always stocked up when I knew you were coming." He said and stood up.

"Grab a glass for Hinata, please!" Gaara called after him and Itachi waved his arm behind his head and left the room. Ino snorted.

"You have that man wrapped around your biddy finger." She teased and Sasuke laughed.

"Yeah, he does. I've never seen Itachi jump up that quick." Naruto said, grinning.

"I didn't know you two were a thing, un." Deidara said with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah we broke up before you and I started talking." Gaara said and picked up Itachi's cards subtly and looked through them. He had some pretty good cards.

"I'm guessing you broke up with him, yeah." 

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, someone who just broke up with someone else wouldn't jump up at the drop of a dime to get him ice wine, yeah." Deidara said and Gaara frowned, looking in the direction he left.

"Hey, Gaara." Gaara looked at Sasuke. "Did you happen to make any..."

"Yeah, the salsa is in the fridge." Sasuke jumped up and ran out of the room, Gaara shook his head.

"Sasuke really likes that fuckin' salsa." Naruto said with a shake of his head.

"Good, it takes forever to make."

"Salsa? I love salsa." Hinata smiled.

"Haha good luck getting any. You'll have to pry it from Sasuke's cold dead hands." Naruto said with a smirk. Sasuke came back with the entire 4 quart cambro of salsa and a bag of chips. "You sure you need all that salsa, there buddy?" Naruto asked and Sasuke glared.

"Don't insult his religion like that, Naruto. My god." Ino scolded and Itachi walked in with a bottle of ice wine and three glasses. He handed one to Hinata and poured some wine and filled another cup, giving it to Gaara and poured a bit into his own cup.

"I thought you were drinking Guinness." Gaara said as Itachi sat next to him.

"I changed my mind. So, are we doing this- Jesus, you let Sasuke find the salsa?" Itachi frowned. "Damn it, he's gonna eat it all." Sasuke glared at him.

"Screw you! I'm never home! Gaara makes this shit all the time. Let me enjoy myself." The amount of salsa he had on one chip was ridiculous and Itachi rolled his eyes and they started the game again.

About 5 minutes into the game, Sasuke was eating the salsa with tears running down his face but he continued to eat them calmly and looked at his cards as if he wasn't crying.

"Uh, Sasuke, you alright, yeah?" Deidara asked and Sasuke sniffled.

"Oh, yeah. Gaara's salsa is sweet and spicy at the same time. You don't really know it's spicy until it's too late. So I'm crying all the time when I eat it." Sasuke wiped his face and continued eating the salsa.

"The jalapenos are going to destroy your stomach if you keep eating the salsa like that." Gaara scolded and Sasuke pouted slightly and pushed the salsa away. Deidara leaned over the circle to grab the salsa and chips.

"Finally I can try it, yeah." He said, grinning. He put it down between him and Hinata and Hinata also grabbed a chip. "Oh wow, it is sweet."

"This is very good, Gaara!" Hinata complimented and Sasuke didn't look very happy.

"I think Sasuke is mad that you like it because it's less for him." Ino said with a giggle.

"There's two things Gaara makes that Sasuke will fight you for. Actually I lied, there's three. Thanksgiving stuffing, pancakes and salsa." Naruto said and Ino perked up considerably.

"Ohhh! Gaara! We should do Thanksgiving this year!" Gaara tensed up at the thought. "Not at the café. We can do it at my house!"

"Ino, your table seats like 6 people." She smiled sweetly.

"That's fine, we can sell the tickets to those 6 seats. I'm sure Sasuke will pay up, right?" Sasuke made a content sigh at the thought of having thanksgiving stuffing again.

"Why don't we do it here?!" Naruto recommended loudly and Itachi frowned.

"Why does everything have to take place at my house?"

"First of all, it isn't even a house, it's an estate. Second of all, you have so much room here! Third of all, if Gaara asks, try to say no. Go on, Gaara. Ask him." Gaara frowned.

"Who said I wanted to make Thanksgiving dinner?" He asked and suddenly there was a riot of "What!?' "No!" "You have to!" and Sasuke may or may not have cried a bit at the thought. "Come on, why can't someone else make Thanksgiving dinner?"

"No one else can cook as well as you do." Naruto said flatly, Gaara frowned.

"Ino can-"

"Ino can BAKE." Ino cut in. "Ino cannot cook for shit."

"This is a true statement, yeah. One time she mixed up bleach and vinegar, she cooked the potstickers before she realized they were a health hazard, yeah. She also gave herself food poisoning, un."

"What about when she got drunk and tried to make a pizza?" Hinata giggled.

"Oh when she set the timer to 450 minutes and the temperature to 15 degrees? The oven didn't even turn on. It just kept rejecting the number. She got so mad, yeah." Ino glared at both of them.

"Hinata, I trusted you." Hinata smiled sweetly at her. "Deidara... I never trusted you, you shady bitch."

"Is it because I remind you of you?" He asked and Ino took the part of her hair that hung in front of her face and put it in the bun with the rest of her hair and glared at him.

"Never say that again." She scolded.

"So who else is going to offer their cooking stories?" Naruto raised his hands.

"One time I was trying to make chicken and I was reading the recipe and it said it had to be cleaned and there was a clean button on the oven so that happened." Gaara visibly winced.

"Naruto, that button makes the oven get to the hottest possible temperature to cook off all the grime and turns it to ash." Naruto scoffed.

"Well thanks, Gaara. I know that NOW." Everyone laughed.

"I once set a toaster on fire defrosting my frozen bread slices one by one. Don't really know how that happened." Deidara admitted.

"Sasuke tried to make cookies in the oven and forgot to turn the oven on. It took him an hour to figure out the problem." Sasuke scowled at his brother and Itachi just smirked at him.

"Itachi was told you could tell when pasta was done by throwing it at the wall but he burned himself with the water and threw the pasta spoon with a huge portion of pasta at the wall and yelped." Itachi frowned as everyone laughed at his mistake.

"Well, in my defense, it stuck to the wall." Gaara chuckled, knowing it wasn't really a tell-tale way to figure out if the pasta was done, especially considering which type of pasta it was.

"Come on, my sweet Hinata. Why don't you tell everyone YOUR kitchen mistake?" Ino said with a wicked smile and Hinata blushed and looked at her lap. "I'll preface the story with, Hinata and I got drunk. Now proceed.

"Well... I really wanted cookie dough. And I um, asked Ino for help. But she said no. And I really wanted cookie dough. So I... figured the only thing in cookie dough that made it taste good was butter and sugar..." Hinata's face was bright red.

"You creamed sugar and butter together and ate it?" Gaara finished for her and she nodded.

"It made me very sick the next day." She admitted with a giggle.

"I remember waking up and finding creamed butter in my kitchenaid like what the hell happened here and then Hinata was vomiting." Ino laughed and Hinata sighed. "What about you, boo? What are some of your kitchen mess ups?"

"... The only one that comes to mind is I tried to make whipped cream with heavy cream with the paddle attachment instead of the whip attachment and it kept turning out as butter and buttermilk and it really confused me. The third time I did it was when I finally caught on." Gaara admitted with a sigh. "I had fresh butter though. And buttermilk. That was something."

***

Neji was on his cousin's Instagram page when he saw she uploaded a picture. Her, Gaara and Ino holding up CAH white cards. Hinata's said "a morbid fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis", Gaara's was "all of my friends dying" and Ino's sad "6 men who have recently masturbated and did not wash their hands". Neji could vaguely make out the blond guy with the long hair holding up a card behind them that said "Finding a Realdoll that was clearly repeatedly stabbed mid-sex-act at your friend's house" and was pointing to Ino. Sasuke and Naruto were standing in the way back with Itachi, likely not even meaning to be in the picture at all.

_LavenderSun these were the most laughed at cards during this game! @iNoEverything @StudMuffin @BombAssArt @Uchiha_Sasuke @Uchiha_Itachi @NotADrugDealer_

"Looks like all of your friends are together." Neji said and Lee grabbed Neji's phone, brushing their fingers together, making Neji freeze momentarily at the feeling.

"Oh I wish I could bring you to meet my friends. They are fantastic. Is it weird to see your cousin there with them?" Neji nodded slowly.

"I didn't even think Hinata knew what Cards Against Humanity is." Neji said with a frown and Lee handed him the phone back and opened Instagram on his own phone and looked for the picture. Him and Hinata started following each other a few days ago just for occasions like this one.

__***O.G_RockLee** all my friends dying? What was the black card?  
 ***iNoEverything** "What don't I want to find in my Kung-pao chicken" Gaara put that card down and laughed, then didn't stop laughing after it was read out loud. He then cried because he imagined all of his friends dying in his food.  
 ***BombAssArt** "I just look down and my friends are dying in my kung-pao chicken and I'm like 'noo' but I'm still eating it because I'm hungry but it's sad." –Sabaku Gaara  
 ***StudMuffin** Shut up! The visual was funny.  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** No, what was funny was watching you laugh that hard over something so ridiculous. But since it made you so happy we just gave that one to you.  
 ***StudMuffin** Shut up, Itachi. I'm hilarious. 

Lee smiled warmly at his phone and shook his head. He wished he was there to see it. When he went on his feed he saw Ino actually recorded him laughing on her page. 

_"Okay," He heard Itachi's voice say. "What don't I want to find in my Kung-Pao chicken... all my friends dying." Ino was giggling as she recorded Gaara cover his face and his body was jerking with laughter. He shook his head and Itachi was heard chuckling. "You okay?" Gaara nodded, still covering his face._

_"I guess his dying friends made him laugh, yeah."_

_"I just look down..." Gaara said muffled by his hands. He moved them, his face was red from laughing and there were tears in his eyes. "and my friends are dying in my kuno-pao chicken and I'm like 'noo' but I'm still eating it because I'm hungry but it is sad." Gaara started laughing really hard and covered his mouth. He was making no sound but his face was getting more and more red. He then doubled over laughing and Ino started giggling more and then Naruto was laughing and everyone was laughing because of how much Gaara was laughing about death._

Watching the video, Lee had a huge grin on his face and he couldn't help but laugh along. He missed Gaara very much, hearing him laugh was just what Lee needed to keep his day going.

_**INoEverything** my best friend everyone... @StudMuffin_

__***O.G_RockLee** omg Gaara you are so cute!  <3   
***BombAssArt** I agree. Gaara, you're so cute, boo-daddy.  
 ***StudMuffin** Boo-daddy??  
 ***BombAssArt** Just trying to make Ino's boo nickname more uncomfortable for you, sweetheart ;)  
 ***BitchesLoveMe** What the hell, guys?! You play CAH without me and break Gaara?? Why wasn't I invited??  
 ***iNoEverything** your dumbass went home!! No one told you to go home! No we getting krunk over here and Sasuke is literally eating salsa with a spoon. Too bad you missed it.  
 ***O.G_RockLee** Gaara made salsa and I missed it? : (  
 ***NotADrugDealer** To be completely fair, you wouldn't be able to have any. Sasuke is a vicious drunk. Maybe Gaara will make more for THANKSGIVING  
 ***StudMuffin** Ugh. Really? We're back to this again?  
 ***iNoEverything** YAAAASSSSS THANKSGIVINGGGGG  
* **BombAssArt** I'm going to this shindig, yeah.  
 ***BitchesLoveMe** Ah man, I love food, count me in!  
 ***NotADrugDealer** YAY! #PartyAtItachisHouse  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** But why my house?  
 ***StudMuffin** At least they aren't forcing you to cook. -_-   
***iNoEverything** Don't worry, boo. Itachi will pay for everything.  
 ***MasterOfPuppets** DID SOMEONE SAY THANKSGIVING!?  
 ***StudMuffin** For fucks sake you summoned my brother.  
 ***MasterOfPuppets** I AM SO EXCITED. LET'S GET DOWN THIS THANKSGIVING. HOLLA  
 ***iNoEverything** it's decided, you're doing thanksgiving dinner.  
 ***StudMuffin** -_-  
 ***O.G_RockLee** do you have room for more? C:  
 ***StudMuffin** Ugh, might as well...  
 ***NotADrugDealer** Now we just have to get #PartyAtItachisHouse trending...  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** I will murder everyone you love.  
 ***NotADrugDealer** Oh good, I was hoping someone would get rid of Sasuke for me. 

"Are you busy for Thanksgiving?" Lee asked with a grin. Neji raised an eyebrow.

"No. My family does not celebrate that. Why?"

"Well, Gaara will be making Thanksgiving dinner and the invitation was extended to us. I am sure Hinata will be there too, if you would like to come with me?" Lee offered with a smile.

"You... want me to go meet your family and friends?" Neji asked slowly and Lee nodded, the action made Neji's stomach feel funny. "Sure, I will go with you."

"You will finally meet my dads, and my amazing friends and Gaara!" Lee said excitedly. "Oh you will love them, I am sure!" Lee jumped off the couch and went to his computer desk and began writing something down.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked and Lee shrugged. 

"I am writing a list of things I must bring with us to Thanksgiving." Neji nodded slowly.

"Well, did you want to do something tonight?" Lee stopped mid writing and looked up.

"We can if you would like to. What do you have in mind?"

"There's a party. It's at a more mellow frat house." Lee raised an eyebrow. He never thought he'd hear the words "mellow" and "frat house" unless they were in conjunction with the word "not". 

"If that is what you would like!" Lee stood up. "I am wearing my pajamas though so I must get changed. Do you know if there is a certain dress code?" Neji shook his head.

"No, just jeans and a shirt should be fine." Neji said and Lee nodded and looked through his drawers. He pulled off his shirt in one simple motion and yanked his pants off. Neji bit the inside of his cheek and tried not to gawk at his roommate. He wished he knew where this painful attraction came from in the first place.

Lee looked good in tight jeans though. He wore a spandex green turtleneck and put an orange scarf on. He looked ridiculous but it was hard to say that completely honestly with those muscles that were so obvious with the skin tight shirt.

"Let's go." Neji said and they left the room.

Lee looked at what his roommate was wearing. Black jeans, a cream colored cardigan with a brown shirt underneath. He had a headband in his hair almost the same color as the chocolate brown his hair was. As always his hair was in a very low ponytail. Lee always wondered why he wore his hair like that.

Walking next to Neji was strange. There was something about Neji that made Lee feel like Neji had a larger presence so he should be taller. That wasn't the case. Neji was two inches shorter than Lee was. For some reason, Lee would always forget that Neji was shorter and he didn't know why. Walking side by side with him though reminded him with a smile.

The only thing putting a damper on thinking of heights was that Itachi was still taller than Lee was. Lee didn't know why he felt like he was always in competition with Itachi, he just couldn't help it. He was grounded more when he looked at the confused expression of his roommate. 

"Nothing. I am just lost in thought." Lee answered the unasked question. Neji nodded curtly and continued walking in a comfortable silence.

***

Neji regretted this party more than anything. He wanted to go to get out of the dorm room where he was just suffocated with the thought of Gaara. It seemed that Gaara's name was every other word spoken from Lee's mouth. He just didn't want to hear about Gaara anymore. It wasn't even like Neji was jealous. He knew Lee was in love with the boy. He was just... annoyed that Lee could be paying attention to Neji instead and decided to go on and on about Gaara. Neji honestly couldn't wait to meet Gaara just to gage his personality better. It seemed erratic from all the stories he heard. One minute Gaara is stoic and uncaring, the next he's laughing about his dying friends.

In any case, Neji regretted going to the party and it was Lee's fault. Neji forgot what a light weight Lee was. It would be fine in any other situation, but as much as it pained Neji to admit, Lee's body was attractive enough to draw attention. A lot of attention. From really slutty girls. Lee didn't even realize they were flirting with him. 

So Neji decided to do what any good friend would do. 

He dragged Lee's drunk ass home. 

Lee complied easily enough. It was sort of difficult because Neji was also quite tipsy, but he wouldn't let anyone take advantage of another friend of his! Neji wasn't above fighting a girl. If she thought she could put her hands on Lee, she would catch Neji's hands on her, knocking her ass on the ground.

The more Neji stewed about it, the more annoyed he became. Sure, Lee was a handful. And yeah, he was annoying, but Lee was a fantastic friend all the time and Neji didn't want people to look at him as anything other than a great friend.

The developing crush Neji continued to have on Lee surely had nothing to do with that.

"Neji~!" Lee giggled once they reached the door. 

"What?" Neji asked and unlocked the door and pushed it open and let Lee collapse on the couch. He wouldn't even try to get Lee to the top bunk at this point. He would be fine on the couch tonight.

"Neji~." Lee giggled again and Neji shut and locked the door. 

"Did you need something?" Neji asked, yanking his outside clothes off to get changed into his pajamas.

"You~!" Lee said and Neji paused and turned to face Lee, right now just wearing his pajama pants. 

"What? Why?" Neji asked and Lee just smiled at him. "Answer the question." For a mostly drunk Neji, he sure was bossy."

"I'm cuddly when I'm drunk. You took me home, so you cuddle with me." Lee opened his arms and Neji scoffed and pulled his shirt on. He threw Lee's pajamas at him.

"Get changed, you'll regret wearing those pants to bed." Neji said and Lee sighed and stripped on the couch. Neji did not expect Lee's underwear to come off with his pants. Nor did he expect the way Lee put on his pajama pants to show everything about Lee's body, but here they were. Neji's face was beet red and he swallowed thickly and scratched the palm of his hands. They were sweating like crazy right now.

Once Lee was dressed he pat the spot on the couch.

"Uh, Lee, the couch isn't very big." Neji said slowly. "I-I'm just going to sleep on my bed." He walked to his bed, thankful his setup was different than Lee's. He hadn't liked the bed up high so he got a new bed. This one was slightly bigger than a regular twin but not by too much. And it was on the floor which was nice. Neji always felt like he'd roll off the top bunk.

Neji laid down and shut the light off and a few moments later there was a shuffling noise and then his bed dipped down. Neji soon caught an arm full of Lee.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked harshly and took a sharp gasp of breath when Lee's face cuddled into Neji's neck.

"I told you. Cuddly." Lee said, smiling against Neji's skin. Lee then draped his body over Neji's, hanging a leg over Neji's hips and an arm over Neji's chest and pulled him close. 

Neji knew he shouldn't cave into it, but it was annoyingly comfortable so he just let it go. He wondered what would happen in the morning when Lee woke up to see what happened.

***

When Lee woke up, he was surprised to feel warm. He slowly remembered going to a party last night, He felt the rise and fall of someone breathing under his arm and suddenly Lee jerked away quickly, thinking he did something stupid and regrettable while he was drunk. When he saw he was completely clothed and cuddled up to Neji he relaxed and his heartrate slowed down. He looked at the clock and decided he could deal with more sleep. He fixed the blankets since he was cold and cuddled back up into Neji's side and smiled.

Neji was really comfortable.

Lee fell asleep again within minutes. Neji's heartrate slowed down, feeling Lee sink back into sleep. He was afraid of Lee's reaction. He was worried it would be angry. He shouldn't have done that, it was Lee. He was rarely angry.

The fact that Lee decided to cuddle with Neji longer made Neji bite his cheek to stop himself from smiling. He wished he knew what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT** :  
> (Does anyone actually care/ and or read these?)  
> This story was supposed to be about 30k words. Let's all laugh together.
> 
>  
> 
> 1) Who has the best screenname?  
> 2) Should I draw this Lee/Neji thing out or should it be the one thing that actually happens quickly in this story?  
> 3) Thanksgiving drama??  
> 4) What was the funniest or saddest part in this story that you remember?
> 
> On a complete random note, I looked up everyone's height and tell me how Gaara and Deidara are both 5'4. Can we all just have a collective squeal of happiness of our tiny babies? (Guy is the tallest character at 6 feet!... tallest character that I looked up. Not in general. pretty sure that'd go to Kisame lol)


	65. Chapter 65

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had fun with this chapter.  
> A Rumor  
> Gaara and Neji meet  
> Gaara and Lee talk  
> Party~!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **MirSams** : Because I can't help it, I'm an awful person. If anyone flirts anymore, it was unintentional. Everyone is just flirting with everyone.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : You can ask for whatever you'd like! My only problem is I don't know what to write about so help me out a bit lol. That's so nice that you two are friends! That's how I feel in this story. They're more than just a ship to me. It's like a family learning together.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : I totally live for the drama too. It really makes my day. Haha. Glad to see you're back and caught up!  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : Well it's going to get very complicated soon enough and I can't wait lol. Spiteful Ino is in this chapter and her and Gaara will have plenty of tea. That was a sad chapter for me to write! And I actually laughed at remembering that scene. It took place like 30 chapters ago, can you believe that??  
>  **Rachel** : I'm glad you do! Naruto's screen name is my favorite lol. I love Shukaku flirting with Ino. I may bring him out next chapter. That was a true story actually it was when I played CAH and I cried when I put that card down. Lee will grow more and more. I can't wait for it.   
> **Halpmehpls7580** : omg same. I love her. She's the shit. I never thought I would make such a perfect character but here we are lol. I will look up that fic and get a feel of it! Thank you for the rec. Chapter 42 I believe you're referring to. After Gaara watched the tape he sat under a tree him and Lee talked. I'm glad the fic makes you happy! Everyone is taller than me :( I'm 4'11 1/2. I'm short AF  
>  **Angie** : They will have their own drama soon enough! Lee has been very neglected lately (sorry, Gaara is more fun to write lmao) I sort of used that idea. Neji did confront Gaara.  
>  **RainiDayz** : Aren't they though? Well you commented too late and I already wrote them meeting. I'm trying to skip as much time as I can since this fic will be like 500k before I finish at this point lol.

Chapter Sixty-Five:

On Itachi's last week of teaching music class, a rumor started.

To be fair, it wasn't much of a "rumor" as it was "old news". 

It surfaced with a clip from behind the scenes of the Beauty and the Beast play. The last week of rehearsal, just to ease some tension, they let the cast mates sing whatever song they wanted to sing to let loose. The song in question? Gaston.

It was no secret that Gaara really did want to play LeFou. Even before Itachi was Gaston, he thought the part would be fun to play, so he naturally jumped at the chance to do a run through of the scene as LeFou. This gave Sasuke the chance to relax and see how the scene played out without actually being in it.

This was also the time when Itachi and Gaara were dating. (How this remained a school secret with their photos on Instagram was beyond anyone, but apparently no one knew.)

The clips were given to the cast as just a fun reminder of the play they were in and didn't really mean anything much else than that. Well, someone decided to upload the content to YouTube. All of the songs, not just Gaston. There was Lee singing "Be Our Guest", Sakura singing "Belle", Itachi singing "How Does a Moment Last Forever", Sasuke singing Gaston's role in "The Mob Song". It had everything. Nothing like "Gaston" though.

Why?

The beginning of the video was Gaara running on stage in his Beaux costume putting on the LeFou jacket. Itachi sat on the chair like normal but Gaara was a lot more touchy than Sasuke was with Itachi. That could just be written off as humor.

It got a little more inappropriate after "In a wrestling match nobody bites like Gaston", Gaara poked Itachi's nose, and walked behind the table, bending over a bit to look in awe at Gaston's "hunting scene". 

"When I hunt I sneak up with my quiver," he walked behind Gaara, hunched over a bit like he was sneaking up on him. "Beasts on the field say a prayer" Gaara made a cross on his shoulders. "First I carefully aim for the liver" He pressed his fingers against the skin near Gaara's liver and Gaara yelped. "And a shoot from behind" he was behind Gaara with one hand on Gaara's hip, the other pushed Gaara to the table in a very suggestive manner. Gaara turned his head with an innocent look "Is that fair?" Itachi leaned over with a flirting smirk "I don't care". 

Okay, that could be uncomfortable to watch but still not the scene that began the rumor. 

Through the dancing, LeFou was supposed to actually dance but everyone knows Gaara can't dance so him and Itachi just kind of spun in circles until Gaara got so dizzy he fell over.

At the end of the song when everyone sung out "Gaston~!" and Gaara stood on a table with Itachi on the floor in front of him, Gaara stumbled, fell off the table and Itachi caught him easily.

Then they kissed.

Not an "oh my savoir" kiss. 

An "I fuck this man in my spare time" kiss.

Even though the kiss only lasted a few seconds, it was still there and it was still very suggestive.

So this is why Gaara was in the café, hiding, baking like crazy and ignoring everyone and everything. He didn't even care that today was the last day before the break. He left school early and he hoped Itachi did the same. He would probably be scrutinized. Gaara didn't want to deal with the rumors. Everyone was talking about how him and Itachi "fucked" and Gaara wanted to scream "It was one time" but somehow he didn't think that would better the situation.

He missed Ino. She should be down later today, but he still missed her like crazy. 

Lee should be down too. That was exciting. Although, he could do without all the pictures he was posting with Neji. Gaara knew Lee needed friends, maybe he needed intimacy too. It didn't mean he wanted to see it.

Gaara talked a lot with Obito over the last month about his growing jealousy of Lee's new friend. Obito told him there were things he couldn't control and to just accept it happening. There was no use getting angry at something you can't control. Gaara didn't like the answer, but he was learning to deal with it. Obito said a sexual relationship was important to some people and even though Gaara couldn't understand it, Lee was still a vital part in Gaara's life and Lee wasn't around much anymore. He had to let Lee live his life. Obito said if Gaara and Lee were meant to be together, they would find their way to each other eventually. 

So, Gaara was adamant that he wouldn't let the growing relationship bother him. Obito was right, it must be lonely being somewhere where everything was new. If Neji was a way for Lee to be comfortable, Gaara would have to suck it up. As long as Lee was happy. Gaara loved Lee and that's all he wanted. 

It was selfish to think that Lee could only be happy with him. 

"Hey." Gaara looked up to see Itachi.

"What are you doing here?" Gaara asked as he rolled croissants. He really hated making croissants but lucky for him, his help sucked at making them.

"I'm sure you know." Itachi said with a sigh. "And probably adding fuel to the flames, honestly."

"Yeah, I'm sorry you had to deal with that. I don't know who uploaded the videos." Itachi shrugged and walked to the workbench across from Gaara.

"You look like something is on your mind." He noted and Gaara fought a smile. Itachi always knew when Gaara was thinking. If Itachi was one thing, it would be perceptive. 

"I think Lee is going to date Neji." Gaara said simply. Itachi examined his face for any sign of a negative emotion. Just because Shukaku hadn't been out in a while, didn't mean he wasn't nervous that something would trigger it.

"How do you feel about that?" Itachi asked and made Gaara shake his head with a dry laugh.

"You sound like my therapist." Gaara said and Itachi smiled at him. "I'm not sure how I feel, actually. I think... Good for him." Itachi raised an eyebrow, Gaara didn't sound angry like Ino would if she found out.

"You aren't sarcastic." Itachi stated and Gaara shook his head.

"No. I'm not. My friends come visit me all the time. I'm working, or at drama or practicing piano or sparing with Naruto at the dojo. My life is full. I don't have time for Lee right now. We barely talk as is. He should have someone there for him. Who thinks of his well-being before anything else." Itachi smiled at him.

"That isn't the Gaara I know." He teased gently. "You're growing." He complimented softly.

"I know. That's what Dr. Uchiha tells me, anyway." Itachi nodded.

"I'm amazed with your progress, Gaara. Are you happier?" Gaara frowned at the question.

"I don't think I know." He said honestly. "I'm more distracted, for sure. But sometimes when I'm alone I get lost in thought and I just realize that... I don't know if there is any getting better for me. I'm on a medication that makes my emotions just dull. I have to be doing something extreme for anything to phase me. I find myself wanting to... I don't know. Do things I'm not supposed to do, just to get a rise from myself. And then I think of Lee and I can't even bring it in myself to become jealous. I don't feel it. I'm numb. Is that healing? Is that better? I don't know."

"The road is a lot longer to getting better, but you'll get there eventually. I'm sorry you're numb. Did you try talking to Obito on changing your medication?"

"There isn't a point. It's either all the negative side effects of this one medication that happens to treat all of my ailments, or take 4 different medications and get 4 different sets of side effects. I'll deal with being numb." Itachi frowned.

"Is there anything I can do to help you? You don't have to answer that now, just think about it." Gaara nodded. "Oh, I forgot to tell you." Itachi chuckled.

"Your driving test is today." Gaara dropped his dough and looked at Itachi with wide eyes.

"W-what?"

"You've driven plenty and I figured if I told you ahead of time you would freak out for days."

"Now I'll freak out for hours." Gaara said dryly and Itachi smiled. "No? I don't even get hours?"

***

"Good luck Gaara." Itachi said fondly and Gaara puffed his cheeks out. He was thankful at least that he wasn't driving Itachi's Escalade. Itachi had a completely different car for some reason. It was an older model of the Honda Civic. Which was still a nice car. Really nice actually, Gaara loved the deep red color it was. Itachi said it was a 2012. The inside was fully loaded with heated seats, built in GPS, the works. He just wondered why Itachi was driving such an old car.

***

"How did you do?" Itachi asked and Gaara's heart was racing, it was nice to have his adrenalin pumping.

"I got a few points off for not turning behind me to check and relying on my mirrors but I passed." Itachi smiled.

"Good job. Think you can drive us to your house?" Gaara frowned.

"Why my house?"

"Are you used to staying at mine?" Itachi teased and Gaara nodded slowly. They climbed into the car.

"Everyone is meeting at Kakashi and Guy's house. I figured you wanted to say hello to Lee. He should be there soon." Gaara smiled, and for the first time in a while, it didn't look forced.

***

Gaara was confused as to why Itachi's Escalade was in the driveway but didn't ask any questions. They climbed out of the car and Itachi gave him a smile and pointed to Lee's car. Lee was home.

They walked inside the house and Lee was standing there talking to his parents. Itachi put his hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"I have an announcement." Itachi said loudly and Kakashi, Guy and Lee turned to face them. "Gaara passed his driver's exam!"

"Gaara! That is amazing!" Lee's smile was a ray of sunshine and Kakashi and Guy cheered.

"How did the car feel?" Kakashi asked and Gaara thought that was a strange question.

"Uh, alright, I guess? I don't know how cars are supposed to feel. I really only ever drove Itachi's car. Thank you for not making me drive it at the test today. I don't think I could parallel park with it." Itachi nodded. "Whose car is that anyway?"

"It's yours." Itachi said simply. Gaara blinked.

"Wait, what?"

"You hadn't figured that out yet?" Itachi asked with a smirk. "You didn't think it was strange that I showed up with a car in your favorite color, a car you actually mentioned you wanted before?"

"I-Itachi." Gaara looked up at him confused. "Why?"

"A gift from all of us." Guy said happily. Gaara looked over at Guy now. Kakashi nodded.

"Why would you spend so much money on me?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Let's just say we know who submitted that anonymous donation last year." Kakashi said with a smirk and Gaara's face turned pink.

"That was you?" Lee asked, amazed. Gaara gave an embarrassed nod.

"You weren't supposed to find out..." Gaara said quietly. Kakashi walked over and hugged Gaara which was strange since Kakashi rarely hugged even Guy.

"We didn't mean to find out but we did. We're thankful for you, Gaara. You saved the dojo and it's up doing better than before." Gaara had tears in his eyes, a car? That was too much.

"But the car was probably more-"

"You say that like we didn't have to talk Itachi down from getting you a 2019 Honda Civic. We knew it would make you uncomfortable but Itachi didn't want to get you an older car unless it was a classic which would defeat the purpose of saving any money." Itachi sighed behind them. Itachi wasn't one to flaunt his money, usually. A part of him hated that Gaara brought out the spender in him.

Once the moment was over, Lee walked over and hugged Gaara tightly. His arms felt so nice. Gaara felt warm. He was so happy to have Lee there with him. He didn't realize how much he missed him. He didn't realize how much he could miss him.

"Thank you so much Gaara." He whispered. "I cannot believe you would donate so much money to help my family when you did not even know us very well."

"I wanted to make you happy." Gaara said quietly. "And I did." Lee's grip tightened on Gaara.

"Well, why don't you pack your things and drive over to the house when you're ready?" Itachi said and put his coat back on. "I have a little brother to boss around and a house to clean."

"Thank you Itachi." Gaara hugged Itachi tightly.

"You're welcome, Gaara. I'd do anything for you." Itachi said softly. "I'll see you later. Hopefully with a tame Ino."

"Yeah you're SOL with that one. There's nothing tame about that woman." Itachi laughed and waved at everyone and left the house.

"Gaara, I would like to introduce you to my friends." Lee said once Itachi was gone. This came as a surprise. He wasn't entirely sure why Lee brought friends if he didn't tell Gaara about it prior. It should be a law to tell the person cooking that you're bringing people with you.

"Uh, yeah ok." Gaara nodded and Lee brought him to the living room.

This entire time, Gaara was in his work uniform. (He thinks Itachi did that on purpose) but now he felt embarrassed on meeting Lee's two friends in checkered pants and a chef jacket.

"Oh my god, Lee!" Tenten jumped off the couch. "Gaara is the cutest~!" She noticed how quickly Gaara's face turned red. "Hi! I'm Tenten."

"I know who you are." Gaara said quietly and she seemed confused. "I see you often in Lee's pictures." Gaara's voice was low and cool. It almost reminded Guy of Kakashi's voice and he gave Kakashi a grin. "You, you're Neji. My friend Hinata's cousin." Gaara nodded at Neji and Neji raised from the couch. There was a tension Neji had about meeting Gaara. He still jutted out his hand, they both seemed to be sizing the other one up and Tenten laughed nervously but Gaara shook his hand anyway.

"BOO~!" They heard right after the door slammed open. "I MISSED YO-" Ino paused when she saw everyone in the living room. She frowned at Neji. He was the enemy, that didn't mean he wasn't hot AF though.

"Ino, you saw me like two weeks ago." She swatted her hand.

"Yeah yeah. Anyway, hello. I'm Ino." She introduced and Tenten smiled at her and shook her hand.

"Lee can you come here for a minute?" Guy called from the front porch.

"I will be right back." Lee left the room and then Tenten's phone went off.

"So will I." She left and Ino crossed her arms and openly glared at Neji.

"Ino, down, girl." Gaara said calmly with his own arms crossed. Neji tilted his head to the side.

I know what you're after." She said lowly. "I'm onto you."

"Yes? And I am also onto you too." His eyes narrowed at her. "Your games to making Lee jealous are painfully obvious."

"What the hell would you care if they were?" Ino asked, taking a step forward. It was adorable, really. Ino was 3 inches shorter than Neji was. Neji was two inches taller than Gaara was.

"I would just like to make it clear that I plan on asking Lee out." Neji said tonelessly with a slight edge to it. 

"The hell you-"

"Ino." Ino scowled and closed her mouth. "I have one thing to say to that." Gaara said simply and Neji turned his attention to the shorter male. 

"And that would be?" Neji was kind of arrogant, wasn't he?

"Don't hurt him." Gaara's voice was soft. "Make him happy."

"Gaara?" Ino said, surprised. "But-"

"Ino, it's fine." Gaara smiled at her gently. "Lee deserves to be happy too. If I can't do that, someone has to." Gaara looked back at Neji who was hiding his surprise well. "Neji, I love Lee. If you hurt him, I can't promise I won't want to hurt you. But if you can make him happy, please, make him happy."

Neji just stared at Gaara. He was so nervous this would be a fight. He didn't want to make things awkward, but he didn't want Gaara to sink his claws in Lee while he was there either which is why he made his statement. 

"Neji?" Gaara said slowly and Neji blinked.

"Sorry... I just... I didn't expect it to go that well." Gaara gave him a small smile. 

"I'm working on it." He said and Ino still looked murderous. "Come on, Ino. Help me pack for Itachi's house."

"But-"

"Come on." Gaara grabbed her hand and they walked up the stairs.

Neji heard her mumble a "Fuck him and his nice hair" and Gaara just chuckled.

One thing that annoyed Neji more than anything was Gaara's willingness. Neji wanted to villainize him so each time Gaara did something that made Lee upset, Neji could blame it on the fact that Gaara was just an asshole. This was not the case. Neji was angry that Gaara was nice. Neji was angry that Gaara seemed to actually care about Lee. Most of all, Neji was angry that Gaara was cute. 

"You okay?" Tenten asked, walking into the living room where Neji was frowning.

"Gaara gave me his blessing." Neji grumbled.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Tenten asked slowly and Neji just frowned at her. "Oh. You're mad that he's nice."

"Nobody is nice like that. Not even Lee."

"Yeah he is. In his own way. Are you mad that Gaara is cute?"

"I already knew what he looked like." Neji snapped and Tenten smiled.

"Seeing pictures is one thing, seeing him in person is another." Neji just frowned. 

"Stop thinking he's cute." Neji said and Tenten rolled her eyes.

Lee walked back inside and peeked in the living room with a smile that faded slightly seeing Gaara wasn't there.

"He went upstairs to pack." Lee nodded in thanks and ran up the stairs in 5 steps. Neji and Tenten listened in.

"Hello Ino! Sorry for that. Hi Gaara. You're getting ready to leave?"

"Yeah. I'm sleeping over Itachi's house. We all are, really. Wait a minute, where's Dee and Hinata?" That perked Neji's interests. He hadn't seen his cousin in a while.

"They're with Kiba. Dee was with me for the ride down but he went with Kiba when we got to town. They said they'd meet us at Itachi's house in an hour." Ino explained. "Dee is really excited to play Cards Against Humanity again with you Gaara. He still makes fun of you, ya know."

"Yeah, he texts me making fun of me too." Gaara said, frowning. "Don't worry, I'll kick his ass and win. I'm not worried about it."

"I'm sure you aren't. So you ready?"

"Yes." Gaara looked at Lee and smiled, and cupped his cheek.

"You're growing a lot." He said and Lee grinned.

"So are you." And Gaara was. His face was more defined than the last time he saw him. He was losing the chubby roundness. Lee's hair was starting to flip at the ends which Gaara thought was adorable.

"I'll bring your bag to the car." Ino grabbed it and left the room, closing the door. Gaara rolled his eyes at her obvious transparency but Lee didn't notice.

"I missed you." Lee hugged Gaara again tightly.

"I missed you too." Gaara whispered.

"I do not want you to leave. I just got here."

"Then come with us. You're more than welcome. Naruto, Sasuke and I think even Sakura will all be there." Lee looked impressed.

"Wow. Everyone, huh?" Gaara nodded. "I will ask if they would like to join. Why are you going to Itachi's house anyway?"

"I need to start cooking." Lee frowned.

"But it is in 2 days." Gaara nodded.

"Tonight I have to make the apple cider for the brine."

"Why do you not just buy it?" Lee asked and Gaara smiled.

"Because I want to make it." The mirth in Gaara's eyes made Lee want to lean over and kiss him. Gaara stopped him though. "No, Lee."

"But... are you dating someone?" Lee asked confused.

"I'm not but I..." Gaara frowned, trying to word it. "You know I love you, Lee. We just won't work long distance. Have you thought about dating someone else?" Lee looked like Gaara smacked him.

"What? Why would I?" He asked and Gaara frowned at the hurt reaction.

"Not even Neji?" Gaara asked and Lee's face turned red.

"I-I didn't, n-no never." Lee shook his head and Gaara ran his fingers through his hair.

"Lee, it's okay if you do." He said softly. "You don't need to wait for me."

"I promised I-"

"I think Itachi and I are getting back together." Gaara cut in with the lie. Lee's eyes widened and he pulled away from Gaara. "I don't think you should be alone if you don't want to be."

"I understand." Lee nodded and Gaara wished he didn't have to lie to him to get him to just relax. Lee would never date anyone so long as he thought Gaara was single. "I am sorry for pushing your boundaries."

"Lee, you didn't. I want to kiss you very much. I just think you are too curious about Neji right now." As much as it angered Gaara deep down, he knew Lee was honestly crushing on the guy. 

"Why would you say that?" Gaara looked Lee in the eyes.

"Tell me to my face that you aren't." Lee clenched his jaw. "Don't try to be with me if you aren't going to be with me 100%. If we dated and you were curious about Neji don't you think I would be uncomfortable?" Lee sighed and looked down ashamed. "Don't feel bad, Lee. I don't mind."

"But why do you not mind?" Lee asked and Gaara smiled.

"Because if he can make you happy, I'll be happy too."

"Therapy is really good for you." Lee said with a wry smile. "I still have to work on my own jealousy."

"It's hard. But your happiness means more than my pride." Lee nodded slowly.

"...Do you still want me to come with you to Itachi's house?"

"Of course I do." Lee's shoulders relaxed.

***

Neji watched Gaara and Lee walk downstairs. Lee seemed nervous about something and Neji really hoped it didn't have anything to do with kissing Gaara or anything.

"Alright. If you decide to come, I'll see you there." Gaara said and Lee twirled around to hug his best friend. He squeezed tightly.

"I will text you!"

"Go where?" Tenten asked.

"Oh, all of my friends are at Itachi's house right now. We were invited to go. It's sort of a party, sort of bothering Gaara in the kitchen."

"Awesome! I'm down! Do you wanna go, Neji?" This was uncomfortable.

"Will Hinata be there?" He asked and Gaara gave him a genuine smile.

"She's there right now. She will be very happy to see you. She talks highly of you." Neji nodded.

"Okay. Let's go."

"Everything is in my car still, did you want to carpool?" Lee offered.

"Nah, Ino is outside. I'm going to jump in with her. Thank you."

***

"So what did you and Gaara talk about? You two were upstairs for a while." Tenten said with a grin. Neji clenched his fists slightly. Lee blushed.

"O-oh nothing, really. We just talked." Tenten's eyes narrowed.

"Just talked?" Lee nodded. "No stolen kisses?"

"Ah, no. Gaara told me that him and Itachi were planning on getting back together. We talked about that is all." Lee said and Tenten (who secretly felt victorious) gave Lee a frown.

"I'm sorry, Lee." Lee shrugged.

"No. I am not. We had a nice talk." Lee said and smiled. "Here we are!" The Uchiha Estate looked massive, especially with all the beautiful lights decorating the outside.

"This is where Itachi lives?!" Tenten asked, surprised.

"Yes. I told you he was rich." Lee said with a laugh. "I was not exaggerating.

"Jesus, does he have a brother?"

"Yes. Our age, actually. Sorry to say, he is dating our friend Naruto." Lee parked the car. "Oh, you will also meet my ex girlfriend, Sakura. That should be interesting, right?" Lee laughed and got out of the car. Tenten gave Neji a look and knew he was regretting going to this at all.

When they got inside Lee led them to the left where the living room was. It was set up like it was two weeks ago with blankets and sleeping bags everywhere. Deidara was sitting next to Hinata and they were playing with something when Hinata looked up and saw Neji.

"Brother!" She ran up and hugged him. He actually lifted her off the ground and she clung to him like a koala. 

"Hinata, how are you?" She pulled away from him and he set her down.

"I am so happy to see you!" There were tears in her eyes.

"Well, Gaara invited us, he said you'd be here so here we are." She beamed at them. "This is my friend Lee and my friend Tenten." She shook their hands.

"It is nice to meet you two! This is my friend Deidara. We go to art school together." Lee noticed how short Deidara was. He thought the blonde would be taller but he was Gaara's height.

"BUSHY-BROOOOW~!" Lee didn't even see Naruto coming but Naruto straight up tackled him to the ground. "HOW ARE YA, MAN!?" Sasuke walked into the room behind Naruto with a smirk. "OH MAN ARE YOU PUMPED ABOUT THIS OR WHAT!? THANKSGIVING IS GONNA BE AWESOME WITH GAARA COOKING! MAN I'VE HAD WET DREAMS ABOUT THIS FOR WEEKS."

"Naruto, that's disgusting." Sasuke said with a scowl.

"You say that like you didn't run inside and check the fridge when you got home today to see if he made salsa." Naruto said flatly and Sasuke glared at him and kicked him off of Lee. "Ow you bastard!"

"Guys, play nice." Lee looked up to see Sakura, smirking slightly with her hands on her hips. 

"Hello Sakura!" Lee said with a smile. "How have you been?" He asked as Neji helped him up.

"I've been alright. School is hard, I almost couldn't make it today. How have you been?"

"I have been okay. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke these are my friends Neji and Tenten from school. Is there anyone else I have to introduce them to that's here?" Sakura looked around thoughtfully.

"Um... Kiba is here. Did they meet Itachi?" Lee shook his head. "Well there's Itachi. Kiba, Itachi, Gaara and Ino are all in the kitchen. I think that's everyone."

"Awesome. Come on guys." He led them across the foyer to another room. The kitchen. It was large and beautiful and smelled like delicious apples. "Hello!"

"Lee, glad you could make it." Tenten always thought Itachi was hot based on his pictures alone. Jesus those didn't do justice. Seeing him next to Gaara cutting apples in an apron with his hair pulled back in a messy bun like Ino's and his dark rimmed glasses, he was perfection. Gaara looked cute with his hair in a headband and he had his chef jacket on still. Ino was on Gaara's other side with her hair in the same bun and she had on pajamas. Kiba sat at the counter munching on chips and salsa.

"You made salsa!" Lee said excitedly and ran to the counter/bar area and sat by Kiba on a bar stool, forgetting his friends.

"Itachi, Kiba, this is Tenten and Neji." Gaara introduced for Lee and Lee smiled sheepishly but his mouth was filled with salsa.

"Sorry." He said and Gaara scowled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." He reprimanded and Kiba laughed at him.

"Hello! I'm Kiba." Kiba introduced happily. "Come eat salsa with us before Sasuke yells at us for eating it." Tenten shrugged and tried one.

"Oh wow. Very sweet, I like it." She complimented and Neji tried a chip reluctantly. It was amazing. Of course it was.

"This is what happens when you have a baker make salsa." Lee teased and Ino frowned.

"Well that's a damn lie. My salsa would suck."

"That is because you suck, yeah." Deidara said, strolling into the kitchen.

"Hey Dee. What's up?" Gaara said and Deidara grinned.

"You haven't said hello to me yet. Figured I would help you out." He stood in-between Kiba and Lee and ate some chips.

"Sorry. Some of us have to actually cook today. Tomorrow. And the day after." Deidara smiled sweetly.

"I'll help you cook, yeah." Ino rolled her eyes.

"Dee, stop flirting. We want to actually eat the food." Ino said and Itachi gave Deidara a funny look.

"Hurry up, un. I want to actually do something fun, yeah." Deidara complained.

"But I'm doing an art form." Gaara said flatly.

"Art is an explosion-"

"We are NOT blowing anything up in my kitchen." Itachi said firmly and glared at Deidara. 

"I said I was sorry!" Itachi just frowned and washed his hands from the apple juices.

***

The circle this time was much larger. Everyone was sipping on drinks and even though Gaara tried not to do it, Lee and Gaara sat side by side which meant they shared a wine cooler. It always happened, Gaara gave up trying to fight it.

The circle went as follows, Gaara, Ino, Kiba, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto, Deidara, Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, Neji, Lee.

"Okay, Itachi is the card Czar!" Ino said loudly and Itachi rolled his eyes and picked up a black card. 

"___ Kid tested, mother approved." Itachi said and everyone giggled throwing their cards in. "I swear if one of them is incest." Itachi said with a shake of his head. Once everyone threw their card in, Itachi collected them and with a groan, shuffled them up and began to read them. "Okay. ___. Kid tested. Mother approved... Drunk Pregnant Women... Rubbing it... Going in dry... Faking a jellyfish sting so someone will pee on you... Stacy's mom... I hate my dad... 15 penises a day... A horse tail butt plug for Bronies... Arabian Goggles in the shower with my uncle...CRIB DEATH... and a sandy-hook survivor. All of you are terrible people." Itachi looked through them with a sigh and rubbed his forehead. He hated this game. "I'm not drunk enough to choose these fucked up cards. Uh... Rubbing it, I guess." No one claimed the card and Itachi looked around the circle. "Who won?" He asked and with a red face, Hinata took the card.

"All right, Hinata!" Ino said loudly and Hinata hid her face.

***

"All right! Everyone better have some serious fucked up cards. Let's get started. Does anyone wanna try this weed? It's called _____. And here are our answers. Teenage pregnancy, The placenta, Superwholock, the Mary Sue, RULE 34, grand larceny and fraud in the first degree and 20 counts of income tax evasion, a get-out-of-jail-free-card, an erection that lasts longer than four hours, Harry Potter erotica, Daniel Radcliff's delicious asshole, tree sex and paris hilton's vagina. Nice. Okay. I'll have to go with Daniel Radcliff's delicious asshole." Kiba said and again, no one went to collect their card. "Hinata, did you win again?" She nodded awkwardly and took the black card with a blush.

***

In the end Hinata won by a landslide.

Neji was scarred.

What did these people do to his innocent cousin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Note**  
>  Just a reminder of the oneshot I posted, check it out for some GaaLee angst. I also updated the superhero origins story and Kakashi's origin story should be up later today so check that out too!
> 
>  **STORY FUN FACT** :  
> When I first planned the play, Lee wasn't going to be in it. Gaara was going to be LeFou, Itachi was going to be the Beast. I didn't have anyone else picked out but Lee was going to be so amazed at Gaara on stage singing like he was. (Which is why I drew Gaara as LeFou<3)
> 
> 1) Ino isn't done fighting with Neji yet. Have any good insults for the two of them to throw at each other?  
> 2) Besides the three most voted for side characters (Ino, Guy and Kakashi) who do you like hearing from?  
> 3) Should Ino get a boyfriend/girlfriend/pet snake?  
> 4) Gaara has a car now! Should he visit Ino or Lee first?  
> 5) What kind of school drama do you think Itachi and Gaara are gonna face after their kiss was spread through the school?


	66. Chapter 66

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanksgiving dinner number two!
> 
> This was honestly one of my favorite chapters to write.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Angie** : I aim to please. Lee will be happy, he's still growing up. He doesn't know what he wants right now. He's learning. Both of the boys are.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : I see Ino as a very sexual insulter and Neji just with intellectual thought out insults. I love them both. I have figured out a great plan for Gaara and Itachi with the school rumors. stay tuned for some angst.  
>  **Obvianon** : Haha! I love writing Ino sass. Neji sass is getting up there! Ooo, I should do a Sasuke chapter so we actually see Sasuke loves his boyfriend and not neglecting him like we see from Naruto's POV. For whatever reason your abridged version of the events that happened with stalking Kakashi made me laugh. And I used your Neji's scaredof snakes! I don't even know how Gaara would react to walking in and seeing that! (It would be funny af tho) I figured out what to do with Itachi and Gaara. It won't be pretty~!  
>  **AnitalovesRockLee** : I'm glad you've been following for a while. This story is important to me, it got me through a lot of rough times. Lee will be happy. Everyone will be happy in the end. Like the description says, it's about growing up. Sometimes you love someone so much but you aren't ready as a person to be with them. Lee and Gaara love each other but they're realizing they aren't good for each other right now. They're both going to go through things and in the end they'll come out stronger. Gaara is selfish to a degree, but Lee is too. Gaara is learning that about himself and trying to change. I hope you will enjoy their journey and in the end you will realize that they were meant for each other the whole time. :) I'm glad you like my writing though! Thank you :)  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Yes, I was pretty crazy yesterday lol. I think eventually Neji and Ino will have a frienemy thing going on. I love them both so much. I loved the insults! I'm going to have to use them before Ino and Neji split! Thank you for them! I love the Uchiha's too. I both love and hate chapters where I have so many characters. I love it because I love them together but I feel like I can't get everyone to say enough. I'll have to think about Ino getting a boyfriend after this chapter... lmao. Thank you for the story! it was very sweet! I don't know where Gaara would bring Itachi though. You'll be saying poor Itachi soon enough, trust me lol. I'm glad to hear that! And yeah I started reading from her after you recced it. It's interesting so far!  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I'm glad you liked it!  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Looks like the voting is synonymous and he's visiting Ino first! I love Itachi spoiling Gaara. They're my babies. I did a Hinata/Deidara interaction this chapter just for you~!

Chapter Sixty-six:

Gaara and Ino were in the kitchen getting the brine ready to use. Gaara made it earlier so it was cooled down now. Itachi was bringing the turkey in from a farm. Ino was upset that they killed a turkey instead of just going to the store and buying one that was dead already but Itachi was extra as hell.

Itachi came in with a bag, proudly.

"I got it." He said and put the bag on the counter. Gaara walked over and pulled the bag down and Ino screamed and cried.

The head was still attached and the neck was flopped over. 

"Oh shit, I told them to cut that off." Itachi said with wide eyes. Gaara sighed and grabbed a butcher knife and put half of the large bird on a cutting board.

"Gaara! What are you doing?" Ino yelled.

"What? Do you want to eat the head?" Gaara asked and Ino bit her lip and closed her eyes.

"I can't watch." Gaara rolled his eyes and cut it with more annoyance than anything. He was also unhappy to find they left the organs inside. He gave a look to Itachi.

"To be fair you said your favorite food was gizzard." Itachi said and Gaara rolled his eyes again and put everything to the side in a bowl.

"Hey what's going on in- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT, YEAH!?" Deidara looked in horror at the lump in the bowl. "Jesus!"

"You guys are lucky I'm here or you wouldn't be eating anything for Thanksgiving." Gaara said flatly and moved the bowl away from direct sight. 

***

To say Ino and Neji didn't get along was the understatement of the century. Ino would make a snide comment whenever she could and Neji wouldn't let her down with a retort. Both of them were quick witted and honestly, Ino enjoyed the banter. Even though she didn't like Neji in the slightest, she liked his jocularity when it came to insults. They went back and forth for handfuls of minutes at a time. 

Gaara would find it hysterical if it weren't so damn distracting.

He was in the kitchen baking so naturally Ino was there to help him. Since Gaara was in the kitchen, that also meant Lee was there. And with Lee came Neji. It didn't take them long to begin their argument. 

Ino: I have more dick in my personality than you have in your pants.  
Neji: You aren't the dumbest person in the world, but you better hope he doesn't die.  
Ino: If I wanted my own comeback, I would've wiped it off your dad's chin.  
Neji: Take my lowest priority and put yourself beneath it.  
Ino: If an unenthusiastic handjob had a face, it would be yours.  
Neji: Your jokes are analogous with one another, do you have any ingenuity? I feel like you're just using the same jokes.  
Ino: The only joke I've done twice is your dad.  
Neji: You're so dense, light bends around you.  
Ino: People like you are the reason god doesn't talk to us anymore.  
Neji: I envy people who have never met you.  
Ino: I'm trying to see things from your perspective but I can't seem to get my head that far up my own ass.  
Neji: It's a good thing I don't respect you, or that might have hurt my feelings.  
Ino: Your mom's only regret in life is that she didn't feel like anal that night.  
Neji: Isn't it rather dangerous to use one's entire vocabulary in a single sentence?

"Oh my god can you two shut the hell up." Kiba said eventually and Ino and Neji glared at him. "I'm just voicing what everyone else is thinking."

"Oh did they finally stop bitching?" Naruto asked walking in the kitchen. "Thank god I was getting hungry."

"Don't spoil your dinner." Gaara chided and Naruto snorted.

"Sure thing, mom." 

"Gaara, you should know he never stops eating." Kiba said, grinning.

"Yeah well I have three of them to feed tomorrow so I know."

"Three?" Ino asked.

"Naruto, Lee and Guy. None of them stop eating." Gaara said simply and Lee, who was in the middle of eating something, looked up awkwardly and swallowed his food.

"Sorry..." Lee said, looking embarrassed. Gaara gave him a warm smile.

"No, please, eat. I haven't been able to cook for you in a while." Naruto looked offended.

"What the hell?! HE can eat but I can't?"

"Naruto I feed you almost every day." Naruto pouted and sat on the barstool next to lee and put his head down. "Sasuke, your boyfriend is sulking in here."

"Naruto! Get your ass in here!" Naruto grumbled and got off the chair and left the room mumbling profanities.

"I bet his biggest fear is not eating for 10 minutes." Kiba muttered. 

"It beats your fear of dying a virgin." Ino said, smirking.

"Oh, yeah totally my fear. Want to help with that?" He asked with a wink.

"My fear is that you two will actually sleep together and I will hear it." Gaara said grumpily.

"My biggest fear is that I would never be able to work out again." Lee said and Gaara looked at him.

"Well with how much you eat I wouldn't give you very long after that to gain a ton of weight." Lee pouted and turned to Neji.

"What's your fear?" Lee asked with a smile and Neji didn't mean to actually answer the question, it just slipped out.

"Snakes."

"Don't tell Sasuke. He has been begging Itachi to let him have a pet snake." Gaara said. "I'm pretty sure he has one actually at school. I wonder who's taking care of him."

"I think snakes are cute." Tenten said, smiling.

"What are you scared of then?" Neji asked with a frown.

"Uh, I'm gonna have to go with spiders."

"I've seen you single handedly get rid of a maggot infested carcass and you're afraid of spiders?" Neji asked flatly.

"Well, Neji. I don't know if you knew this, but spiders and maggots look nothing alike." Ino said facetiously. 

"Shut up Ino, if you were an inanimate object, you'd be a participation trophy." 

"I swear to god, Neji, if you don't shut up I will jerk you off so hard you'll need an ice pack for weeks." Everyone (save Gaara) was momentarily taken back by that one, luckily Neji was immune to Ino's vulgarity.

"Classy. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" 

"No, but I suck your dad's dick with it."

"What is your fascination with my father?" Neji said, breaking the insult volley. 

"It seemed like the best way to irritate you." Ino admitted simply.

"I can assure you, my father would not be interested in the likes of you." Gaara's head snapped up.

"No, Ino, that was NOT a challenge."

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! I will woo your dad so hard, by next year you'll be calling me mommy." Ino said dangerously and Gaara groaned.

"You are impossible to underestimate." Neji said with a sigh.

"Thank you."

"That was not a compliment." Neji said with a scowl.

"You're really putting a lot of effort into this, aren't you, Gaara?" Tenten asked with a smile, trying to completely change the subject. Tuesday was his prep day, that was yesterday. He got everything together that he needed and he made a list of what he was making and when. That's also when he made the apple cider and the brine. Wednesday was dessert day. It's when he made the dough for the breads and the pies. Thursday is when he cooked all of the other food. Right now he was working in putting his intricate looking top crust on his apple pie before he put it in the oven. "Your pies are beautiful."

"Thank you, Tenten. Couldn't have done it without my handy pie dough roller." Gaara gave Lee a look with a smirk and Lee grinned at him.

"Lee usually rolls the pie crusts?" Tenten asked and Ino snorted at the question.

"You should have seen Gaara last year. We had like 120 or so pie orders and we still had to make 65 pie shells and he was going to commit murder. He was screaming and cursing at me and Temari and then Lee strolls in and he just shut up and was like 'oh no problem. Let's do this hahah go team.' And then Lee banged out like 40 of the pie shells in an hour and Gaara like jizzed probably." Gaara sent her a side look.

"Ino. About 90% of that story was fabricated." He said and she rolled her eyes.

"No. The main points. You were throwing a bitch fit. True. Lee showed up and you stopped throwing a bitch fit. True. Lee showed up and saved everyone from an untimely death. True. And I don't know your life, I mean you probably jizzed." At this point in the conversation, Itachi strolled in.

"If only it were that simple as to roll out pie dough to get him to finish, I would become a dough sheeter." He said coolly as he got himself a drink. Ino practically died just by seeing the look of surprise embarrassment on Gaara's face. His whole face turned bright red, his pupils were the size of a needle point. It was fantastic. Ino had to drop her utensils to fall to the floor and she laughed until she cried. "Oh did I say that out loud?" Gaara wasn't sure if Itachi was being sarcastic or not since his face remained stoic.

"Stop I'm gonna piss myself." Ino said between laughter. Even Kiba was walking away to hide the fact that he was laughing. Tenten was giggling and Lee was just surprised at the statement and nothing could get Neji to laugh, he had no soul.

***

After everything was done, everyone sat on the couch. Even though the couch was larger than a normal couch, it was still quite a squeeze to fit that many people on it. The couch shape was a U. Gaara liked to sit in the corners of the couch so he sat in the left corner under a blanket. Ino sat on his right and Deidara sat on his left. On the other side, Itachi was lounging in the corner next to Sasuke and Naruto. Lee was in the middle of the couch with Neji and Tenten. Kiba squeezed in next to Ino and Hinata was sitting with Neji. Sakura sat herself next to Sasuke.

[From left to right: Kiba, Ino, Gaara, Deidara, Tenten, Lee, Neji, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Itachi]

"What are we watching?" Gaara asked while Itachi fumbled with the remote.

"Something I picked, just for you." Gaara looked at the screen curiously and the movie started.

Thor: Ragnarok

"Idris Elba!" Gaara yelled at the same time all the girls swooned over Chris Hemsworth. 

"I love Chris Hemsworth." Ino said happily.

"I would willingly let him murder me, yeah." Deidara agreed.

"What's Gaara's thing with-" Deidara started.

"He likes old men. Don't ask." Ino cut him off.

"He was robbed of his title." Gaara said quietly.

"...what?" Sasuke asked and Gaara was surprised he heard it from all the way on the couch."

"Sexiest man alive. He lost to Blake Shelton." Hinata said simply and Sakura gagged.

"Gaara, Tom Hiddleson is in the movie too." Itachi said.

"Oh he is a dreamboat!" Tenten said with a grin. 

"Benedict Cumberbatch is in this movie as well." Lee said happily.

"Gaara why don't you seem too enthusiastic about watching this movie?" Ino asked randomly.

"Gaara, seriously? You already watched the other one like 4 times." Naruto said.

"What?"

"The Justice League movie. It wasn't even good." Naruto said with a sigh. "It doesn't mean he didn't force us to watch it 4 times though."

"You could've left the room. I was happy watching it myself. It isn't my fault you have a closet crush on Jason Mamoa." Gaara said with a glare.

"It's Jason Mamoa, who doesn't have a crush on him?" Ino asked.

"I don't. Too rugged for me." Kiba said with a laugh.

"No one asked you, Kiba."

"You said who-"

"No one ASKED YOU, KIBA." Ino repeated.

The front door opened and slammed shut. Itachi looked over at the door curiously. It was strangely calm for someone who wasn't sure if a murderer just arrived.

"Who's there?" Sasuke asked loudly.

"Good one, Sasuke. If it's a killer, he'll totally tell us now." Naruto said dryly and Sai walked in the room.

"Jesus, what the hell are you holding?" Neji asked, tensing up completely.

"A snake!" Sai said and smile that seemed off. "His name is Manda."

"Oh he got so big~!" Ino jumped off the couch to pet the snake and Sai beamed at her.

"Didn't he? I brought him because you mentioned you missed seeing him." Ino giggled and Neji glared daggers at her. Sai helped her put the snake on her shoulders and she walked over to Hinata with him, just because Hinata was sitting by Neji. Neji tried not to be obvious with shifting as far away from the snake as he could, but he was practically in Lee's lap while Hinata was petting the snake with a gleeful giggle. Ino stared him down the entire time.

"It is okay, Neji. Manda is nice." Lee tried to comfort.

"I somehow doubt that." Neji said, still maintaining a very vicious glare with Ino. This was war.

***

Neji woke up oddly close to Lee the next morning. He wasn't complaining about it, he just didn't remember falling asleep there. He looked around and saw essentially everyone was sleeping. He could hear movements in the kitchen and curiously got up to go check it out. Gaara was up. His hair was in a headband, he had baggy pajama pants on and an oversized t-shirt. He was walking around the kitchen with authority, it was funny to see on someone that had to climb on the counters to get things on a high shelf.

"Good morning." Gaara said quietly as he tossed the dry bread in egg yolk. The kitchen smelled wonderful. Neji walked in closer and saw he was cooking sausage and onions. "Why are you up so early?" Gaara asked and Neji looked at the clock. It was 6am. 

"I did not realize it was so early. I couldn't sleep." Neji admitted and walked closer and sat on the bar stool. He was watching Gaara move with ease.

"You seemed to be comfortable." Neji tilted his head. He wondered if that was a remark. Was Gaara actually angry at him?

"I didn't see you, where did you sleep?" Neji asked and Gaara began stirring the sausage and onion.

"I didn't. I don't sleep very much." Neji blinked.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you can ask Itachi or Lee. They should know." Gaara said and turned the heat off of the sausage and dumped the mixture in with the bread. 

"Any reason?" Neji asked and Gaara shrugged.

"Not really. Just have bad insomnia. Some days it's worse. It's gotten bad with my medication." Neji nodded.

"Yes, I've had some unfortunate side effects on medications as well." Neji had no idea why he admitted to that.

"A necessary evil, I suppose." Neji watched Gaara mix the sausage with his bare hands without flinching.

"Uh, doesn't that hurt?" Neji asked and Gaara shook his head.

"I doubt I have nerve endings on my hands at this point." Gaara admitted and Neji thought that was strange. "Side effect of working in a kitchen for as long as I have." 

"How long is that?"

"Almost 5 years." Gaara said simply and pulled the turkey out of a bucket of water and let it drain in the sink. When it was done he put it in a large roasting pan and dabbed the moisture off.

"Do you enjoy cooking this much? You haven't really done anything else since we've been here." Gaara nodded.

"Yeah, I love cooking, honestly. I prefer baking but cooking is good too." Gaara started to put a dry rub on the turkey. "Cooking is easier to lose yourself in. I barely pay attention. I just work. Baking is a bit more effort."

"Why does Ino hate me if you don't?" Neji asked and Gaara smiled softly.

"She's petty. I am not. Sorry about her, she's overwhelming. I surround myself with those types, I suppose."

"But why is she so against something that you aren't?"

"Uh..." Gaara frowned. "Well, she's my best friend so she wants me to have everything, I guess. No matter how impractical. I think more than that. I suppose I could throw a fit and force Lee to stop talking to you. Or, I could let him live his life and be happy. I'd rather see him happy, even if it isn't with me. Ino thinks that's stupid. If I can't have him no one can, or something."

"I wanted to hate you." Neji admitted and Gaara looked up and frowned.

"You don't?" Neji shook his head. "Why? I'm kind of an asshole."

"Well, from what I've seen you're grounded and calm." Neji smirked. "Ah, I see it now."

"What?"

"Lee and I were watching a movie and he was just staring at me. I asked what he was doing and he said I reminded him of you." Neji was wistful. "I wonder if we dated if it would just be him replacing you with me."

"I doubt it." Gaara said as he stuffed the turkey. "You're handsome. We look nothing alike. We might have similarities, but I doubt that's why Lee likes you."

"Handsome?"

"Yeah. How else do you think I knew you? I saw you in Lee's pictures and I was jealous of the handsome guy hanging out with Lee."

"You were jealous?" Neji looked legitimately confused. "I can't picture that."

"I've been working on it. I wanted to hate you too. I realize I can't hate someone who makes Lee happy." Before Neji could respond there was the sound of someone walking down the stairs. Itachi walked in and smiled sleepily at Gaara.

"Good morning." Gaara smiled back. "I thought you were going to sleep upstairs last night." Itachi sat on the stool.

"I didn't sleep at all." Gaara said and Itachi frowned.

"Sorry to hear that. It smells fantastic in here." Gaara put the turkey in the oven and threw the dishes in the sink and sighed. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just exhausted." Gaara said and rubbed his eyes on his forearm and then washed his hands vigorously. "I may take a nap after dinner."

"Oh, the itis. I'm excited to eat so much I get tired too." Itachi said and Gaara leaned on the counter. "Who do you think will be the next one up?"

"Sasuke, probably. We shouldn't expect Ino unless she set an alarm." 

"Do you think Ino will really-"

"Try to sleep with your dad? It would not shock me." Neji frowned. "Your own fault for challenging her. She's thickheaded."

"You better keep me updated on that train wreck." Itachi said with a smirk.

"Please, apparently she has spy gear in her car that she never even told me about. She doesn't tell me everything." 

"Good morning." They all turned to see Lee with a bright smile.

"Oh fuck, I forgot Lee was here." Gaara said and Lee paused and blinked.

"Do... you normally spend your mornings talking with Neji when I am not here?" That was a valid point.

"I'm running on hopes and dreams, Lee. I don't even remember my own name." Lee frowned.

"Oh did you not sleep last night?" His voice was full of concern. "I am sorry."

"Morning, un!" 

"What the fuck is Deidara doing awake?" Gaara asked and Deidara grinned and walked over.

"I woke up to the delicious smell of Thanksgiving dinner, yeah. Gaara, I think you'd make a nice wife one day." Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"I'd be careful if I were you. Gaara is a yellow belt in karate." Itachi said with a smirk. Gaara glared at Itachi.

"Don't make fun of my slow progress."

"I think it is wonderful that you are working so hard!" Gaara winced. "Oh, sorry, was that too loud?"

"Lee. You're at a 17 and you should be at a 2." Sasuke said tiredly, walking into the kitchen.

"What is everyone doing awake at 630?" Gaara asked confused.

"I don't know, un. But I'm gonna wake Hinata up." Deidara ran out of the room and Gaara sighed. Today was already so much.

***

"No, Dee, the forks go on the left side, the knife goes on the right side and the cup gets placed above the knife." Hinata asked and Deidara groaned.

"Why?"

"Because it looks pretty." Hinata said, smiling. Her and Deidara were in charge of setting the table.

"Should we mark the seats too?" Deidara asked and Hinata's face actually looked mischievous.

"Do you think they would actually sit in their designated place?" Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"What are you getting at, yeah?"

"Just... I think it would be funny to sit Neji next to someone..."

"Lee?"

"No..."

"Gaara?"

"No."

"...Ino?" Hinata gave him a tiny smile. "Oh Hinata, you're an evil genius, yeah. Let's do it, un." Deidara left the room to get paper from Itachi and he stole Itachi's fountain pen and the two of them got to work on the seating arrangements. Hinata could write in beautiful calligraphy so she was the one to write the names and Deidara put fancy decorations on the side to make them look official. Once they were done they smiled at the table with pride and high fived. "I can't believe we just spent 20 minutes on this just to fuck with your cousin, yeah." Hinata giggled.

"This is payback, actually. For Ino."

"I'm down for fucking with Ino."

***

Hinata and Deidara were able to put the seating arrangements so seamlessly that no one even noticed. They saw their names and sat at the respective seats. Hinata made sure that they would be sitting next to people they wanted to sit next to and the fact that Ino was stuck next to Neji was just a mistake.

It didn't help that when they all sat down and Ino and Neji looked at each other with scowls, they turned to Deidara.

"What the hell?" Neji asked and Hinata blushed shlyly.

"I-I'm sorry, brother. It was my mistake. We can switch if you'd like?" She offered innocently and Neji tensed. If he switched with Hinata he would be sitting next to Deidara instead of Lee. He would suck it up and deal with sitting next to Ino.

"It's fine, Hinata. I know you didn't mean it." He said softly and Deidara squeezed Hinata's knee under the table to stop himself from laughing and Hinata turned away.

"You're evil, you know that?" Deidara whispered and she held back a giggle. "You need to stay away from me and Ino from now on. We're turning you into a monster."

"Oh that isn't true." She said smiling.

Gaara walked out and started putting dishes on the table and Lee scrambled to get up to help him bring in the dishes. 

"I will help you, Gaara." He said kindly and Itachi was already in the kitchen rounding things up.

Kakashi and Guy showed up and marveled at the food.

"Wow, Gaara you've outdone yourself!" Guy complimented. "No doubt the help with your most youthful energy!" Neji raised an eyebrow at the older man. He was just like Lee. They even looked alike. "I'll have to run laps around the town after this meal!" Oh man, they even talked the same way.

"If you go, I will join you!" Lee said with a look of determination. Gaara shook his head at them as he walked by with the gravy. Itachi came out with the turkey.

"Hey! The party is here!" Kankuro announced at the front door. He walked in with Shikamaru and Temari. "Oh man, Gaara I love you, bro." Kankuro said, grinning and hugged his little brother who frowned.

"Can I put the cranberry sauce down first?" Gaara asked and Kankuro let him go.

The table was large but was difficult to fit as many people there as they had so everyone was very close together. On the long end of one side, it started with Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto. On the small side there was Sakura and Tenten. Next to Tenten on the other side was Lee, Neji, Ino, Sai, Kiba, Kakashi and Guy. On the other side was Hinata and Deidara.

"I think we all owe Gaara a collective thank you for getting this meal together." Kakashi said and everyone said their thanks. Naruto, Kankuro, Lee, Guy, Kiba and Deidara may have yelled their thanks. 

The turkey was carved up already so everyone just took the pieces they wanted and it was a really nice mood. Lee watched Gaara talk to his brother with a smile. It was nice to see Gaara with his siblings. Lee looked around the table and noticed all the new budding friendships and saw the old ones too. Sakura was talking to Tenten, Sasuke was flirting with Naruto, Sai and Kiba were joking about something, Ino was yelling over at Deidara about something. All-in-all it felt like a family. There was warmth in Lee's heart at just seeing it all.

"Are you okay, Lee?" Neji asked and Lee grinned at him.

"Yes, I am." He rubbed Neji's knee affectionately and began serving himself since everyone else severed themselves already. Lee couldn't be more proud of Gaara if he tried. He remembered meeting the red head last year and he wasn't very talkative and he was working on a lot of issues. Now here he was surrounded by friends and family. He was in his element. Gaara looked pleased. Everyone ate and this time no one was complaining. It was just a perfect dinner. Jokes were made. Sasuke was outed by Naruto as a joke from the year before. Their lives were changing. Things were progressing. Lee felt aware of Neji's presence on his side with an admiration that he'd only had for Gaara up until that point. Maybe Gaara was right about it. And this time when Lee saw Itachi smile at Gaara a little too affectionately, he was able to do it without jealousy. He was content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  The reason I did a cafe story is because I'm actually a pastry cook (Could you tell by reading?) and I'm a barista. I've worked in many different cafes and I love the atmosphere. I decided to put my babies in the situation too because I love them. Also, Gaara's salsa recipe is a real recipe I have. It's the best salsa I've ever had and everyone who tries it falls in love.(Itachi's love of a chef uniform comes from me. I find them sexy.)
> 
> 1) Okay, so, what do you think Ino should do with Neji's dad (at the very least shes going to text Neji a picture of her kissing his cheek at some point in the story)  
> 2) Of the younger generation in the story (sorry Kakashi, Guy and Obito) who is your broTP (If it's Gaara and Ino, tell me your second favorite)  
> 3) Who is the best comic relief of the story.  
> 4) I said I had angst planned for the little rumor slip up. Can anyone figure out what it is~? *evil laughter*


	67. Chapter 67

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enough humor to distract you from the second half of the chapter, hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not feeling very happy. I think it's just Christmas time. I just get super sad about Christmas time and this year I'm not even near my family at all. I'll get out of the funk eventually. Sorry this took two days. I tried real hard writing it.
> 
>  **Angie** : I'm glad you liked it.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Well, even if you do start every comment with that, I'm glad you love it so much. I love writing Neji and Ino fighting. It keeps me going.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Yeah Ino is the best character for me too. My husband asked why I made her such a big comic relief and how she won't be good in serious situations after this. I'd like to think she can be serious when the time calls for it... maybe not.  
>  **Liz** Aw thank you so much. That comment really meant a lot to me! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : Haha, yes, I do get very passionate about baking. Sometimes I had to stop myself from putting too much detail into what Gaara was doing like "paige, your readers don't need a 12 page chapter on Gaara making tiramisu. stop yourself." I hope you're ready for thsi chapter then! I do love me some Itachi.
> 
> Enjoy the shitshow.

Chapter Sixty-Seven:

"Itachi, before I leave, do you have a moment?" Lee asked and Itachi nodded and led him to a more private spot.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you." Itachi tilted his head to the side.

"Uh. Thank you? What for?"

"Gaara." Lee said simply.

"... I'm sorry, Lee. I'm afraid I don't understand."

"I spoke with Gaara and he said you two were getting back together, right?" Itachi blinked. Normally he would have been able to remain stone-faced or even continue on with the obvious lie. In Gaara's case, he couldn't. He was too surprised. "Right?"

"Um." Itachi didn't really know what to say. He'd already taken so long to answer the initial question, he wasn't sure anything he could say to Lee would placate him.

"He... He lied, am I right?" Lee asked softly and Itachi nodded slowly. "But... why would he lie to me?" The question was rhetorical.

"Well, what were you talking about?" Once Itachi asked the question, realization dawned on Lee all at once.

"Oh..." He frowned but Itachi still stared at him expectantly. "I told him I would not date Neji because..."

"He was single?" Itachi supplied and Lee's face burned and he nodded. "So he told you that him and I were getting together to nudge you in Neji's direction." 

"Why would he do that?" Lee asked, visibly upset. "I was okay with him being with you but why would he lie to me?"

"Gaara is still healing himself, Lee. Maybe he wants you to find happiness with someone else because he knows he can't give it to you right now. Maybe the thought of you waiting around miserable for the possibility that he may date you was stressful for him. He probably just wants you to live your life without worrying about him." Lee appreciated that Itachi was so perceptive with Gaara's feelings, however it didn't manage to make him feel any better. "Lee, I know you're upset but honestly, try to be happy. Enjoy college or you'll be doing literally the opposite of what Gaara wanted for you."

"I know... I just..."

"You're upset he lied. I know. I'm upset too. I understand why he said what he did, I just don't like that I was used in the situation."

"I am so sorry, Itachi. I did not mean to upset you." Itachi shook his head.

"You didn't upset me. I just need to speak with Gaara. We can't keep doing this."

"I think he should be with you, honestly." Lee said, still looking upset. "You give him so much..."

"Love is about more than that. I would give him anything he wanted but that doesn't heal the pain he went through growing up. He needs to heal. Oh, speaking of which, I'm sorry to change the topic, did you talk to Ms. Senju?"

"Oh, yes I did."

"Okay, did she tell you about the court date?" Lee frowned.

"I cannot be there. I have my finals. She understood." Itachi nodded.

"Okay. I just wanted to ask." Lee looked down at the floor. The air hung thick between them. There was so much both of them wanted to say but neither had the energy or will to say it.

***

"Lee, your family was so nice." Tenten said with a smile. "And you have some pretty awesome friends."

"Ah, thank you!" Lee flushed at the compliment. "My friends and family are very important to me. I am sorry you did not get along with everyone, Neji."

"It honestly doesn't matter." Neji said coolly. "The only one I didn't care for is Ino and I doubt you're close friends with her anyway."

"Why do you say that?" Lee asked.

"I didn't see you have a conversation with her alone once. She seems to be Gaara's best friend. There's a difference between being someone's friend by choice and being someone's friend because they're in your social circle." Neji pointed out.

"Well, I suppose that is true. But then the same could be said for you and I. You did not like me very much but you were still hanging around me because of Tenten. I would like to think we are friends now, right?" Neji frowned at the comparison.

"I suppose." Tenten leaned over the center console from the back seat to grab the cord to plug her phone into the car's speakers. She was not listening to them banter like this. Neji was so... jealous? Is that the right word?

"What are you going to listen to?" Lee asked Tenten. 

"Just a song that's stuck in my head." Tenten said with an innocent look. She put on "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" by Toby Keith and Neji turned to her with a look of irritation. She simply winked.

"What a nice song." Lee commented with a smile. "What is it about? I did not really pay attention to most of the lyrics."

"It's about being in love with your friend." Tenten said simply and Neij continued to glare at her, only this time his face was tinged pink. He was thankful Lee was driving or else he would notice.

"That sounds so lovely." Lee said and Tenten agreed. Neji just glowered and stared out the window.

***

"Y'all can stop playin'. I'm driving, I'm picking the music. Fuck outta here." Ino said to Kiba, shoving him slightly.

"Come on, yeah. I'm tired of listening to 90's hip-hop music." Deidara complained from the seat behind her.

"Hold on. I have different music playlists." Ino said and grabbed her iPod. Kiba lunged over the center console from the passenger seat to grab the steering wheel. "Hey, it's fine. I can steer with my knees."

"Uh, well could you like not?? I'd rather not die." Kiba said with a scowl.

"Whatever." Ino clicked on a playlist and put the iPod down and grabbed the wheel.

Ass, titties, ass-n-titties. Ass ass titties titties, ass-n-titties. Ass, titties-

"Ino what the FUCK is this?" Kiba yelled and Ino's face was bright red from holding back her laughter.

"I downloaded this song specifically for when you yelled at me for playing 90's rap and hip-hop music. I hope you like it."

Big booty bitches that's where it gets. Come on, ho, let's go to the easy rest...

"I literally want to die, yeah." Deidara grumbled. "Hey, why does it say that we're arriving at school in an hour and a half? We just left."

"We're stopping at my family's house." Hinata said and Ino had a vicious grin on her face.

"How long are we staying?" Kiba asked.

"Long enough for Ino to take her picture." Hinata said simply as she read on her kindle.

"Picture of what?"

"Kissing my uncle."

"The FUCK, Ino?!?"

***

"Uncle!" Hinata's face broke out into a smile and she hugged her father's twin brother. Ino stared at the older man who Neji was a spitting image of.

"He's cute as hell." Ino whispered to Deidara.

"He looks like Neji." Deidara whispered back.

"Yeah, but he's smiling."

"That is true." Deidara responded and Ino took a step forward and put on her sweetest smile which was strange for anyone to see.

"Mr. Hyuuga? Wow, it's so nice to meet you." Her eyes crinkled slightly with the wideness of her smile. "My name is Ino. We brought you some pastries."

"Ino, what a nice name." He complimented and smiled at her. "Pastries for me? That's very kind of you. Thank you very much. So you're friends with my niece?"

"Oh you're welcome! I wanted to leave a good impression. Yes, we're actually roommates." Ino gave Hinata a smile. "And I recently met your son, Neji. He's close friends with one of my other buddies. It's such a small world." She giggled and Deidara and Kiba shared a look.

"That is something. I hope he wasn't too much of a downer. He tends to be... brooding." The elder Hyuuga said and Ino smiled.

"Nothing I couldn't handle. Hey, actually, do you mind if we took a picture together for me to send to him? I'm sure he would love to see his dad." Ino twirled her hair in her finger.

"Not at all. I'd love for Neji to remember his old man's face." He joked and Ino smiled sweetly. If Kiba noticed any inclination that Hizashi seemed interested in Ino in the slightest, he kept his mouth shut. Ino was pretty, gorgeous even, but she didn't need that ego boost.

Ino pulled out her phone and put it on selfie mode. Hizashi looked at her curiously.

"There's other people, they could take the picture." He offered.

"They don't know my good angles." She winked and Kiba rolled his eyes and Deidara muttered something that probably wasn't very nice.

Ino specifically decided on a selfie since her arms weren't very long. This made them have to squeeze closer together. She took a picture of them smiling at the camera and she turned to him.

"Thank you." Hizashi nodded and Ino kissed his cheek, taking a quick picture and pulled away. "We must get going, we have to say hello to Hinata's daddy now. Hopefully I'll see you again sometime." Ino's expression was teasing and she sauntered back to the car with her boys leading the way. If she put a little too much hip movements in her step, no one said anything.

"It was nice seeing you, uncle!" Hinata said, breaking Hizashi out of his trance. "Enjoy your pastries! Ino made them herself."

"Yes. Thank you for visiting me, Hinata. It was wonderful to see you. And I appreciate the pastries very much." Hinata could tell he was distracted and just smiled and hugged him again and quickly went back to the car. 

Hizashi peeked inside the box and saw a collection of some of his favorite pastries and smiled. He looked up to see Ino wink at him from the driver's side seat and then they drove off.

***

Neji felt his phone go off and grabbed it and looked down to see he was tagged in an Instagram photo by iNoEverything. He grumbled and opened it. His face flushed angrily and he scowled.

"What's wrong, Neji?" Tenten asked and Neji handed her the phone.

"Oh my god, is that your dad?!" Tenten covered her mouth, mainly to hide her grin. She was impressed with Ino. When Ino said she was going to do something, she did it.

The picture was pretty close to them, it was obviously a selfie. Hizashi was slightly turned to her, his eyes locked on her face. She was leaned up kissing his cheek right by the corner of his mouth. There was even a very obvious blush from Hizashi that made Neji extremely annoyed. How could he even fall for that succubus' tricks?

_**iNoEverything** It was such a pleasure to meet this handsome man [heart eyes emoji, heart emoji] #ThatJawlineTho @Hyuuga_Neji your dad is a total babe!_

_***Hyuuga_Neji** I will destroy you for this, Ino.  
 ***BombAssArt** Hopefully no one tells Neji how his dad totally checked out Ino's ass when we were leaving, yeah. [magnifying glass emoji, eyes emoji]  
 ***StudMuffin** Ino... I can't. How do you do these things?  
 ***iNoEverything** Why, you wanna kiss that gorgeous man too? [wink kiss emoji]  
 ***Hyuuga_Neji** MY. FATHER. IS. OFF. LIMITS.  
 ***iNoEverything** Sure, honey ;)_

"I'm going to call him and I'm going to yell at him." Neji grumbled and went through his contact list.

"Come on, Ino probably kissed him without him really paying attention." Tenten tried to reason by Neji was already calling his dad.

"Neji. It's great to hear from you-"

"You let Ino kiss you?!" Neji yelled into the phone.

"She just kissed my cheek. She's a nice woman. She even brought me pastries. My favorite ones too, I don't even know how she did that." Hizashi responded and Neji growled.

"She is the spawn of Satan." 

"Neji, that isn't very polite. She was a very nice woman."

"She's just trying to piss me off by seducing you!" Neji yelled into the phone and Hizashi stayed quiet. "I'm happy to hear that you're thinking this over-"

"You're telling me an 18 year old wants to seduce me?"

"She's 19, but yeah, that's what I'm getting at." Hizashi stayed quiet again. "So now you see what I'm talking about-"

"I'm sorry, Neji. I fail to see the downside on this."

"THIS IS WHY I'M IN A SCHOOL 4 HOURS AWAY." Neji hung up his phone and crossed his arms angrily. 

"I take it he was more... seduced by her than not?" Lee asked and Neji just glared. "Got it. Well, if there's one thing Ino is good at it's getting under your skin."

"She does NOT get under my skin."

"Okay, Neji."

"She's also apparently good at getting under your dad's clothes..." Tenten mumbled and Neji's face flushed in anger.

***

"Sasuke, you don't have to leave yet, you could leave tomorrow. It isn't like your school is far away." Naruto said, sitting on Sasuke's bed in the Uchiha Estate. Sasuke continued getting his things together.

"Sorry, Naruto. I'm not really caught up on my work. I spent all week with you, you'll be fine." Sasuke said and Naruto looked down at the blankets on the bed. Yeah, him and Sasuke spent all week together but there were other people with them. There wasn't any intimacy. They barely kissed. Naruto missed the closeness they had before. He grew to resent Sasuke's college and his demanding hours at school. Was Sasuke even interested in him anymore? "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Naruto said simply and retreated in on himself with a sigh. "I'm fine."

"Naruto." Sasuke finally stopped and walked over to his boyfriend. "What's wrong?"

"We're going to break up." Naruto said tonelessly. "Just like I thought."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"We aren't happy. You're more likely to talk to your new friends than me. I see you next to never and now that I finally have you, you're going to leave me again."

"Naruto, I'm not going to break up with you-"

"-Yeah, Sasuke? I'm sorry but... I just can't do it anymore." Naruto stood up and looked at Sasuke. "I love you so much, but I can't keep doing this."

"Naruto... what are you getting at?" Sasuke asked slowly, his heart was pounding and aching in his chest.

"I just don't want to do this. I can't keep being ignored and then act like everything is fine and dandy when you finally show your face here again. I just won't be walked on anymore. I'm your verbal punching bag and I'm sick of it."

"Naruto." Sasuke's voice was regretful but he didn't have anything to say.

"Yeah. I'm leaving. Sorry. Bye." Naruto went to storm out but Sasuke grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Let go of me, Sasuke."

"No. I won't." Sasuke's jaw was firmly shut. "You aren't leaving."

"Yes I am. Get off of me, Sasuke." Sasuke let go but nearly tackled Naruto in a hug. "Sasuke."

"Please. Naruto. Please don't." He was trying to keep his voice as even as possible but it wavered slightly and Naruto shook his head. "Naruto. I love you."

"And I love you too. That's why I'm letting you go." Naruto said quietly. "Maybe you can live the college life you apparently want so bad that you ignore me everyday." Naruto broke the hug with Sasuke and left the room. Sasuke stared at the door in shock and anger. Naruto walked away as quickly as he could in order to not have Sasuke catch him crying.

Sasuke sat down on his bed and stewed in his thoughts just staring at the door. He didn't want to, but he had to look at it from Naruto's perspective. It did look like he just abandoned him when in reality that wasn't the case. Sasuke was really busy all the time. He had so much to do and the only time he was excited for anything was when he got a text or call from Naruto. His roommate knew everything about Naruto, Sasuke had a tendency to babble when he was drunk and he just missed Naruto all the time.

Even though he could understand where Naruto was coming from, he was livid at the fact that Naruto assumed he just didn't care. Sasuke was in love with Naruto for years without Naruto knowing. What the hell did he know about how Sasuke felt? Sasuke crushed on him for years and Naruto never even noticed!

Sasuke just shook his head and breathed calmly. Naruto needed some time to think about things and when he did, Sasuke would talk to him again. Not being with Naruto wasn't an option. Sasuke would make sure they got back together. It was only a matter of time.

***

"Are you ready for the court date?" Itachi asked quietly to Kakashi. He called the man over once he talked to Ms. Senju and he wanted to go over some things they had to discuss about the case.

"Yeah, we have everything prepared. It won't be easy. Hopefully nothing goes wrong by then." Kakashi said with a frown. "It's going to be a long road. Hopefully Gaara will be away from most of it."

"I agree."

"We just have to make sure we remain very low profile. Anything we do that could be seen as wrong in the eyes of the court will be highlighted during these weeks leading up to the court date." Kakashi said and Itachi agreed. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about what Kakashi said. He hoped the feeling would go away.

***

Gaara was at his house for what seemed like the first time in forever. He just needed time to himself after so much time with other people. He wasn't doing anything in particular. He already tended to all of his succulents and his pine tree that was growing nicely, now about to his shoulders. The tree grew at an alarmingly slow rate, Gaara wondered why but he loved his tree anyway.

While Gaara worked on his homework at his desk, he heard the door open and slam shut. He looked curiously out his door to see if he could get a peek of whomever was home in a bad mood. It didn't take too long. Naruto stormed into his room and dove into the bed head first and Gaara just stared at him.

"You alright?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled, muffled by the pillows.

"Ah. What happened?" Gaara asked, homework now abandoned.

"We broke up." Gaara sighed. He saw it coming but it was still painful. He knew how hard breakups were. "I was just tired of being his punching bag, ya know? It was just... I can't do it."

"That's fine. It happens." Naruto blinked at his red-headed friend. "If you need time to yourself, don't let anyone else take it from you." Gaara said simply and moved back to his desk. 

"I know Sasuke is your friend, you aren't pissed at me for breaking up with him?"

"No? Why would I be? It isn't my life. It has nothing to do with me. You're my friend too." Naruto nodded slowly and rolled on his back so he could stare at the ceiling.

"Do you think Itachi will still let me live with him or no?"

"Trust me, Naruto. We knew this was coming eventually. He doesn't hold it against you. Sasuke can be... difficult." Naruto scoffed.

"Difficult? That's a nice way of putting the fact that he's a bitchy asshole." Gaara bit back a smirk at the response. "Hey, I'm curious. You're friends with Itachi. How are you such good friends with him after you two dated?"

"I don't know. We care about each other enough that we don't let it get in the way of us talking anymore, I guess."

"I guess I can understand that. I just don't know how you're friends like how you are when he's still so in love with you." 

"What do you mean?" Naruto stared at Gaara for a minute. 

"You didn't honestly ask that, did you? Man, people think I'M dumb."

"I just don't know what you're talking about."

"Dude, all Itachi talks about is you. It's annoying. The man has two jobs and still manages to spend all of his waking moments with you. I mean, I'm there too but I'm sure he'd rather be alone with you."

"No, Naruto, you're his friend. He likes spending time with you." Gaara insisted and Naruto frowned at the fact that Gaara clearly ignored the important part of his statement.

"Yeah, he may LIKE spending time with me but he LOVES spending time with you." Naruto looked at Gaara and Gaara fiddled with his thumbs, unknowing how to approach the conversation from that point. "I'm not lookin to make you uncomfortable or anything, I was just curious."

"I don't know, Naruto." Gaara admitted. "Everything is strange with Itachi. I don't want to stop hanging out with him but I just can't date him right now either. Honestly we both know there's something there when we're together but we both ignore it. Why do you care?"

"You two are my friends and I want the both of you happy. You were happy when you were together, weren't you?" Naruto asked and Gaara could realize Naruto was deflecting. He didn't want to talk about Sasuke but he wanted some form of breakup conversation to help himself figure out what to do.

"Yes, we were." Gaara admitted simply.

"What changed?" Gaara sighed at the question. It was a fair question with an unfair answer.

"You really don't want to know. It would put you in an awkward position. It's nothing you can associate with you and Sasuke, for sure." Naruto frowned.

"So you're saying it wasn't because Itachi looked through your phone?" 

"He told you about that?" Gaara asked surprised.

"Yeah, he was so upset about it. I never saw Itachi cry before, it was super weird." That left an uncomfortable feeling in Gaara's chest. He didn't want Itachi to cry about him. Hopefully he wouldn't feel the need to do it again. "Just tell me why you two broke up. I won't say anything. I just... I want to hear someone else's break up story to distract me from my own." Gaara sighed and thought about it. He really didn't want to say but he supposed he would tell a half truth.

"I loved Itachi. I still do. But I'm in love with Lee and it wasn't fair to Itachi." Gaara said quietly.

"Wait, so it had nothing to do with him looking through your phone?" Gaara frowned.

"That was not cool of him to do, but in the end it made me realize I couldn't be with him. If he was already jealous of Lee when nothing happened, he would be even more jealous if he found out I was in love with Lee. So we broke up."

"Oh..." Naruto looked at the floor. "Do you think you two will ever get back together? I mean... Lee looks pretty cozy with Neji."

"Ah. Yeah. I pushed him towards that. I don't deserve to be with anyone right now. I'm not right in the head right now. Lee needs to be happy. I wish Itachi had someone else to keep him company so he could get over me. I really don't deserve him." 

"Why the hell do you say that? You're awesome."

"Naruto, there's a lot you don't know about me and I'd like to keep it that way. So if we could change the subject I would appreciate it." Gaara said and Naruto sighed.

"...So what do you want to go to college for?"

***

Despite only having a week left of working at the school, Itachi was called into the office the next morning and knew instantly what it was about.

His and Gaara's kiss.

He wasn't worried about it too much. Him and Gaara didn't do anything wrong. The video was taken before Itachi took the position at the school and they broke up before Itachi started teaching. Plus, even if that mattered, Itachi had permission from Gaara's guardians to date him.

He really wasn't worried about it.

What he didn't like, were the strange looks everyone gave him now. Like he was a pervert and Gaara was just an innocent 17 year old boy who didn't know better and was coerced into having this relationship against his will. 

The only teacher that seemed to be on his side was Iruka. That was because the two of them were friends since high school and Iruka saw the two together all the time at the theatre so it was just normal to see. Even though he was so sure that everything would be fine, Itachi couldn't shake the feeling of dread in his stomach as he approached the front office. He figured he would be talked to today so made sure to dress nicely for the occasion. Black slacks, dark purple button up shirt, black vest, black tie. His hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and he wore his glasses today. He knew Gaara liked them and for whatever reason he wanted to wear something he knew Gaara liked. Things have had a weird tension since they've started talking again.

"Mr. Uchiha." The voice of the secretary was judging, for sure. Itachi did his best to ignore it and just gave her a curt nod and a slight smile.

"Good morning." He said politely. It didn't seem to faze the woman at all. 

"Mr. Sarutobi will see you now." She said and looked away from him. He frowned at the dismissal but went to the principal's office anyway.

"Good morning, Hiruzen." Itachi said respectfully. "How can I help you?"

"Itachi..." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm sure you know why you're here."

"Sort of. Would you like to elaborate?" Hiruzen sighed again.

"Your personal relationship with a student. A student that is in your class, I may add." Itachi frowned at the implication.

"I did not hide my relationship with Gaara prior to getting hired. However, Gaara and I broke up before I started teaching here. And even if we didn't, I did have permission from his guardians to date him."

"That... isn't what I heard."

"What are you talking about?" Itachi was honestly confused. 

"I asked if you had special permission to date Gaara. I was given the impression that no such claims were made." Itachi's heart dropped. Why would Kakashi and Guy say something like that? Kakashi and him sat down to talk about the relationship. It didn't seem right that they would throw him under the bus like that. "I don't know why you look so surprised."

"Because I-I... I swear to you I did." Itachi pressed his eyebrows closer together and looked at the principal earnestly. "I wouldn't have dated him otherwise. You could even ask Gaara-"

"I don't think bringing Gaara in here is necessary. I figured we'd get right to the source. Gaara has been through enough, don't you think?" Itachi looked at the principal with a hurt expression.

"Are you insinuating I would hurt Gaara? I would never do that-"

"Let's just get this talk over please." Hiruzen pressed the page button on his phone. "Please send him in." Itachi turned to the door with an irritated expression. He wanted to see Kakashi or Guy when they walked in so they could explain to him why the hell they said what they did.

The door opened and Itachi's eyes widened.

That isn't Kakashi or Guy.

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Sabaku. Please, take a seat. I can promise we want to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. I've already informed Mr. Uchiha that you had no say in the relationship...." Itachi drowned out the sounds of the rest of the sentence. All he thought was how fucked he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun!
> 
>  **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  Originally I had it planned that a drunk Ino and a drunk Shukaku were going to end up sleeping together. I scrapped the idea after mulling it over for a while because I was worried Ino would eventually have feelings for Shukaku and I didn't want that. 
> 
> 1) How do you think Itachi is going to get out of this?  
> 2) Do you think Naruto and Sasuke are done for good?  
> 3) Hahahahaha Ino and Hizashi amirite?? (Just make me queen of ships that have people read the ship pairing in the notes like "what the fuck")  
> 4) Is this story getting too drawn out and boring for anyone?
> 
> Since I was asked in my story Mama if I had a tumblr or anything to talk about the fic and stuff like that, I made a side tumblr. SmoresiesFanfic (My actual Tumblr is Smoresies but I didn't want my friends to see the gay shit I post)
> 
> Again, thank you to everyone who takes time to leave me a comment. Especially now. They really mean a lot to me. Even more so when I'm sad. It's nice to know that after failing at so many things all day, there are people who actually enjoy something I do. So Thank you.


	68. Chapter 68

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Court  
> Neji/Lee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Thank you! Naruto and Sasuke do have a bit to talk about! We'll see more of it after court happens and when it's Winter Break for our boys. I love a seductive Ino! I'm glad you're still so invested in the story.  
>  **MirSama** : Haha, they are my babies too. Don't worry. They just have to figure shit out. I am very flattered and happy you feel that way! I hope I continue to draw your attention!  
>  **AshBoopTaylor** : Itachi is in some deep shit even after all this goes down. My poor baby lol. I'm secretly hoping for Ino/Hizashi but that's just me :P I'm glad you feel that way about the length of the story!  
>  **AnitaLovesRockLee** : I've responded to your comment on the previous chapter in the comment section.  
>  **Lolipopgang71** : I really need Guy and Rasa to have it out. It would be everything I want and more lol. Aww a pregnant Sasuke! That would be adorable. lmao I would love that, but no, I do have an MPREG story but it isn't this one :( Yaaay for tumblr! I believe I followed you back!  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Thank you my dear! I appreciate it! I'm glad you love the story!  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : Hah! You're so cute! You don't have a problem! I do the same shit. I still listen to it and I wrote those chapters last month lol.

Chapter Sixty-Eight:

"Is there anything you have to say, Itachi?" Hiruzen asked and Itachi did his best not to look over at Rasa. He wasn't sure he could contain himself if he did. And usually he was such a pacifist. He bit the inside of his cheek and shook his head. "What about you, Mr. Sabaku?"

"I am appalled that someone so much older than Gaara would take advantage of him in such a way. Gaara is very vulnerable-"

"Yeah? I wonder why that is." Itachi said, eyes flashing a dangerous red color as he glared at the man. He could feel his temper boiling over. Itachi was bad when his temper finally flared up. It took such a long time to get to that point since Itachi was always calm. Just looking at Rasa completely broke that from him.

"I don't like what you're insinuating." Rasa said and glared back at Itachi.

"I'm not insinuating anything." Itachi said lowly. "I'm stating a fact. Why do you think Gaara is vulnerable?"

"Are you saying my son has daddy issues and that's why he's with you?" Rasa smirked slightly at the thought and Itachi scowled.

"I am not in a relationship with your son anymore-"

"Is that because he realized how creepy you were?" Itachi's fingers dug into the arms of the chair. "It isn't your fault. I heard being a pedophile was something people can't help-"

"Don't you dare." Itachi hissed and stood up from his chair so quickly it fell backwards. "You know nothing about your son. You had him living in a fucking storage closet! He refuses to take off his shirt to go swimming because it's completely covered in scars from YOUR abuse!" Itachi was seething. Rasa frowned at him.

"How am I to believe such an outrageous lie?" 

"Lie?! Are you kidding me?!" Itachi heard Hiruzen mumble something into the phone and hung it up. "What are you doing?"

"Getting to the bottom of this." He said seriously. "And if you did suspect child abuse and didn't report it, as a teacher-"

"Hiruzen, I can assure you I am working on it." Itachi said, glaring at Rasa. Suddenly realization dawned on Rasa and he pointed to Itachi angrily.

"You're the one who is trying to take me to court."

"Yeah. Are you just getting that now? I have proof of what you did, you know." Itachi said, finally getting control of his nerves. Rasa was more irritated at the calmness of Itachi than he was at the anger. "I'm going to take you down."

"You and those other faggots can't do a goddamn thing." Rasa hissed. "They're lucky I didn't call the police for kidnapping my son." There was a brief moment of panic that Itachi felt in his heart but he covered it easily. "They're probably why my son is fagging it up with you."

"Yes, please blame the two people that actually care about your sons wellbeing in a parental light for something Gaara is naturally without the aid of any help. And for your information, Gaara isn't gay. He's demisexual. But that's something you wouldn't know about him, would you?"

"What the fuck is that?"

"It means he isn't sexually attracted to anyone unless he's in love with them." There were so many things Rasa wanted to say to that statement.

"Well then, I don't think I have to worry about my son every losing his virginity, the little shit can't love anyone." Itachi clenched his jaw and Rasa smirked. Smart man. Itachi couldn't admit to sleeping with Gaara or else he wouldn't look very professional. Dick.

"Gaara has more love in his heart than you do, I can tell that for sure."

"Are you calling my son a slut?" Rasa asked with a nasty smirk. Itachi swallowed his insults.

"I don't have a single thing to say to you." Itachi said and looked away from him. 

The door opened and Itachi glanced over to see the police and sighed. This wasn't good.

"I think it'll be better for us to discuss this down at the station." Itachi clenched his jaw and nodded. He followed the police out of the office with Rasa not too far behind him. Itachi felt extremely embarrassed when he realized it was right before school started and the children were all over the hallway seeing him be escorted out with Gaara's father. He hoped he didn't run into Gaara at all.

They made it outside and Itachi paused.

"Am I able to drive myself?" He asked when they stopped at the police car. The police officers knew he was trying to save face and normally would comply, however, Itachi was being brought in for potentially taking advantage of a younger student so they weren't feeling very compassionate. One of the last things he saw after Rasa climbed in the back of the car was Guy's look of confusion as he dropped off Gaara who stared at Itachi get in the car with a look of panic.

Itachi cursed to himself and the police car drove off and he watched Gaara climb back in the car and Guy began to follow behind them. He closed his eyes and groaned. He really didn't need this.

***

They were brought into the station and put in separate rooms. Gaara and Guy showed up in the station, Gaara was a bit hysterical at the prospect of Itachi being arrested. They assured him he was just in for questioning and wasn't being held. Guy quickly got on the phone to call Ms. Senju. If anyone knew what to do it would be their lawyer. She said she'd be there soon enough and Guy hung up the phone and told Gaara he was going to go call Kakashi and left Gaara alone in the middle of the precinct. He looked around nervously wondering what would happen and wanted to text someone to figure out what to do. 

"Gaara?" He looked up and blinked. 

"Mr. Yamanaka?" Inoichi smiled at Gaara.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and Gaara sighed and scratched his head.

"Itachi was brought in for questioning. I just want to make sure nothing bad happens to him." He admitted and Inoichi frowned.

"I can find out why he's here. Give me a moment." He walked over to someone and they talked for a minute and Inoichi walked back. "Uh, he's being questioned about you. And apparently your dad is here too."

"My dad?" Gaara's eyes were wide. So that's who got in the cop car first. He hadn't even noticed. That's when Guy showed back up. "Guy, they're saying my dad is here. They're questioning Itachi about me."

"What would they have to question him about?" Guy asked, purposefully ignoring the fact that Rasa was there too.

"I guess an inappropriate relationship they had." Inoichi said and Gaara looked hurt.

"Who said we had an inappropriate relationship? We aren't together anymore but 17 is the age of consent so why would Itachi even need to be questioned about it?"

"Apparently the age of consent is only 17 if it's approved by a parent." Inoichi said quietly and Gaara blinked.

"But..." He looked up at Guy and Guy rubbed his face with frustration. "Guy?"

"Gaara, I'm so sorry, there isn't anything we can do." He admitted. "Yeah, you live with us and yeah we're trying to officially get custody of you but legally you're under your father's rules. If he wants to make this a big deal, there isn't anything I can do about it."

"But that isn't fair!" Gaara's eyes burned. "I turn 18 in a little less than two months!"

"I know. But that doesn't mean anything to the law. Don't worry. We have a lawyer for Itachi. I won't go down without a fight, you know." Gaara clenched his teeth and nodded. Guy hugged him. "I'll make sure to kick Rasa's ass when I see him, too." Guy whispered to Gaara and Gaara nodded.

***

Gaara never felt so enamored by a woman before but when Ms. Senju walked in dressed so professionally acting like a total badass diva and demanding to see her client Itachi, and scolding all of the police officers for trying to question him without her presence, Gaara was hooked. She looked at Gaara by mistake and did a double take and couldn't keep her eyes off of him. She quickly walked over and knelt down by him.

"Hey Gaara." She greeted and Gaara stared at her curiously. 

"How do you know my name?"

"My name is Tsunade." She introduced, ignoring his question. "And I'm going to simultaneously get Itachi out of trouble and hopefully put your father away in jail." Gaara couldn't possibly love this woman any more. "I may need your help." Gaara nodded his head. "I'll let you know, okay?"

"Yeah." She got up and walked away and was led to a questioning room.

"Mr. Yamanaka." Inoichi looked over at Gaara. "Can I see Itachi?" He frowned but nodded and brought Gaara to a room that overlooked each of the questioning rooms with a two way mirror. There were a few people standing in front of the window looking at Itachi talk to Tsunade with a frown.

"Who is this?" One of the detectives asked.

"This is Gaara." Inoichi said and Gaara glared.

"Itachi is innocent. I haven't lived with my dad since September of last year. He never reported me missing so he doesn't care. He's just trying to ruin my life."

"Why didn't you have yourself emancipated?" Gaara blinked. "Do you know what that means?"

"We're in the process of that. We're also trying to get a restraining order against his father." Guy informed and Gaara was surprised but thought better than to have a reaction. He'd ask about it later.

"Well, there isn't much we can do right now, they just want to question Mr. Uchiha, they aren't looking to arrest him." Gaara glanced at Itachi sitting at the table in the room across from Tsunade. He was twirling his hair. He was nervous.

***

It took several hours at the police station. Kakashi and Guy both talked to detectives with Tsunade. No one really spoke to Gaara until the very end. Something that made Gaara curious was the fact that Tsunade mentioned the court date would be moved up.

What court date?

With flitting looks to Gaara, they realized it was time to come clean sooner rather than later.

Tsunade left, Itachi was released, and everyone went outside to the cars where they stood awkwardly. No one knew how to approach the conversation but Kakashi and Guy made sure Itachi was feeling alright after the few hours in the station.

"Why don't we talk over dinner?" Itachi offered and everyone agreed.

Gaara went with Kakashi and Itachi went with Guy. Gaara couldn't help but fidget in his seat just watching the car in front of them. He felt the need to be by Itachi even more now than before. He felt so terrible.

"Gaara, everything will be okay." Kakashi said and Gaara nodded curly but said nothing. Kakashi frowned but knew where Gaara was coming from. He wouldn't be speaking for a while. That was fine. He just hoped Gaara was a good listener.

They all got to the restaurant and Itachi asked for a private area. They had a conference room available and Itachi thanked them politely. Gaara was guessing Itachi had done business with them in the past considering their willingness to give out an entire room for just 4 people, and they called him by name.

They all sat down after ordering their drinks and looked over their menus. Gaara wasn't very hungry but he picked a soup anyway. He needed something, his nerves were just a mess.

When everything was all said and done, Itachi, Guy and Kakashi all looked at each other wondering who should go first. In the end, it was Kakashi.

"Gaara, I apologize to you for this but we've been keeping something from you." Gaara didn't say anything but stared mostly at Itachi. Itachi never kept things from him so this was different. "Back when we saw that video... I realized I didn't want Rasa to be able to get around you like he did at Thanksgiving last year. Guy and I talked and we decided to try and get a restraining order against Rasa. I... I watched the rest of that video and I didn't like what I saw. I also saw the photo album. I spoke with your sister and she actually had more videos... Your sister... she documented the abuse you faced through the years and tried several times to get your father put away for it but she was only a kid. She didn't have money for a lawyer and there wasn't anything she could do. Your father was able to bury the evidence and move on. Guy and I decided we wanted to put Rasa away in prison for what he did to you so we took on additional hours to pay for a good lawyer..." Kakashi glanced at Itachi and Itachi took in a breath. He supposed it was his turn.

"I realized what they were doing and I wanted to help. I didn't see any of the videos or the pictures but I was told it was bad enough and I hired Ms. Senju. More than anything I want to see you safe. I didn't want Rasa to get away with hurting you. None of us did. We also didn't want to upset you so we didn't tell you until now. Ms. Senju has a lot of damning evidence against your father that she could surely put him away for a while. We had your doctor, not Obito, write his evaluation of you up so this way you wouldn't have to testify in court. We were hoping we could get through this without disturbing you as much as possible. I'm really sorry, Gaara..."

Gaara just stared at them blankly and looked down at the table. He didn't really have anything to say. He didn't even know what he felt. 

"Did anyone else know?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Well, I told Lee in case he needed to be called in as a witness." Itachi admitted and that earned him a surprised look and a glare from Kakashi and Guy. "Sorry, he might have needed to go."

"Who saw the videos?" Gaara asked in the same tone.

"Ms. Senju saw all of them. Kakashi saw the one. I didn't see any. Neither did Guy." Which reminded Gaara that Guy was even there. He hadn't said much of anything since they got there. Gaara nodded slowly and continued to avoid eye contact.

"Okay." 

"Okay?"

"What am I supposed to say to that, Itachi?" Gaara asked. "There's nothing I can say. I don't know what to say. What do you want me to say?"

"Gaara." Itachi stood up and walked over to sit right next to Gaara. "Gaara, I'm so sorry."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Gaara wanted to go home but he refused to say that. He didn't want everyone to go without eating. He was angry they kept such a big secret but he still loved all of them.

"So what did they decide at the precinct?" Gaara asked and Itachi sighed.

"Rasa's lawyer said he wouldn't press charges against me if we stopped the charges against him for child abuse. Me and Tsunade told him to fuck himself, essentially. There isn't much he can do with those charges once we prove you haven't lived at home. Plus with the amount of proof we have for the case, he doesn't have a leg to stand on."

"But you'll be okay?" Gaara asked softly and looked at Itachi through his lashes.

"Yes. I'll be fine." Itachi promised and Gaara nodded and leaned his head on Itachi's shoulder.

"Okay."

***

Obito noticed something strange about Gaara the next few sessions and opted to talk to Kakashi about it. Gaara was breaking through for the longest time and now he was closed off again. Once Itachi picked Gaara up, Obito grabbed his phone to call his old friend.

"Hello?"

"Guy?"

"Who's this?"

"This is Obito. I'm sorry to bother you, is Kakashi around? I need to speak with him."

"Kakashi is busy. Anything I can help with?" Obito frowned at that. Guy still didn't like him, it seemed. Whatever. 

"It's about Gaara."

"What about him?" Guy's annoyed tone was gone and now it was laced with worry.

"I can't disclose much, only I'm wondering if something happened. He hasn't been talkative lately. Is there something wrong at home?"

"He didn't tell you about court?"

"No?"

"Oh. Uh. We're taking his father to court for child abuse. He didn't know about it until a few weeks ago. He hasn't really said much since he found out. Plus everything with Itachi at school..."

"What about Itachi at school?" Guy was surprised. Why didn't Gaara tell his doctor about any of this?

"Itachi got in trouble with the school because a video of him and Gaara kissing went around. It was during their play thing when they were dating. Rasa made a big deal about it and got Itachi in trouble." Obito bit his lip. Why did so many things happen to Gaara that he didn't want to talk about?

"Do you think you can get me an earlier appointment with Gaara? I think we need to talk more. When is the court date?"

"In a few days." Obito sighed.

"Okay. I'll try and see what I can do."

"Alright. I'll talk to Gaara."

"Thank you, Guy."

***

"You've been really antsy, lately, Lee." Tenten pointed out and Neji was relieved. Now he wouldn't have to say it. Lee had been acting weird for the past week and it was starting to get worrisome. 

"Oh. It is nothing. I just..." Lee scratched the back of his head. "A family matter."

"You can talk to us, you know." Tenten said gently. "You look like you need to vent." Lee looked so broken at that statement.

"Yes, you are right. I do. However, I do not think it is my business to share. I would not want to cause any ill will between myself and Gaara." He admitted and Neji would roll his eyes if it weren't so obvious. Of course it had to do with Gaara. It always did.

"That's really admirable of you, Lee. But you know we won't say anything if you need to talk. You really look like you're going to pass out." Lee bit his thumb and Tenten knew he was close to caving. "I promise."

"Okay!" Lee sighed and rubbed his face. "In a few days is a court case for Gaara against his father and I was supposed to be there but I cannot because of finals and now I am freaking out because now Gaara has to be in the court looking at the monster and I cannot help him! He must be so scared! I remember we were talking about something scary that happened and I asked him how he handled it and he said it was nothing compared to his father and just knowing he will be in the same room as someone who terrifies him just freaks me out!" Lee had tears in his eyes and his breathing was erratic. Neji stared surprised at him, he had no idea what was going on with Gaara, but from the way Lee was freaking out about it, it didn't sound very good.

"...How scary can his father be?" Tenten asked awkwardly. She never had a situation in which she was scared of her own father so it didn't really make sense to her. 

"He was an abusive monster! He hurt Gaara in ways that I cannot even explain because I was too scared to watch the videos."

"Videos?"

"Yes... The abuse was so bad his sister recorded it to try and help him but it did not work. They are trying to use them again."

"Wait." Neji held up his hand. "They're using the same evidence against him for the same crime? That's Double Jeopardy. They can't use that. The evidence will get thrown out." He explained and Lee's face went white.

"W-what?"

"Yeah. It's against the 5th amendment." Neji said and Lee ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh no..." He needed to get in contact with Ms. Senju. Now.

***

Tsunade parked her car in the Just Desserts parking lot and strolled into the café looking for Temari. Temari noticed her first and quickly made her way to the blonde lawyer and they spoke in hushed tones.

"What are you doing here?" Temari whispered.

"I had a question for you and you didn't answer your phone." Tsunade responded and Temari bit her lip. Her father would recognize Tsunade now if he saw her since she was Itachi's lawyer. Temari hoped he wouldn't piece things together. At least until after he was in jail.

"Okay. What is it?"

"The videos you used, did you bring them to court?" Temari blinked.

"Uh... I don't remember. I don't think they got that far." She admitted and Tsunade nodded.

"Okay. If they were, would you be able to tell me which ones you know for a fact you didn't bring to anyone?"

"Um..." Temari squinted her eyes in thought. "I think... 3 and 8 for sure." Tsunade took in a deep breath. "Why?"

"I hadn't realized how far you got with the tapes. If he was brought to court with these tapes and it was brushed off and he was let go as an innocent man, I can't use them. However, if they didn't get to court I can. I don't want to risk that so if I knew the tapes that weren't used for sure, I could do it." Temari nodded.

"That makes sense." 

"If you remember anything at all, please, call me." Tsunade left quickly without even attempting to buy anything under the guise she was there for something more than a social call.

***

Day one in court was a nightmare.

All that happened was they attacked Gaara's credibility despite the fact that he didn't even know he was going to court until much after they planned to. He was called out for so many things he even forgot he did. 

Shukaku was brought up but not as a side effect of DID but just violent outbursts apparently they made Gaara seem prone to. There were hospital records of people Shukaku put in the hospital and Gaara sunk in his chair each time another one was presented. Tsunade didn't seem to be worried but he was more ashamed than anything else. Shukaku was more wild when he was younger. Gaara had less control.

There were witnesses that came in that Gaara didn't even remember who they were. They said awful things about Gaara and he just really would have rather not been there at all. Suddenly the idea of him not even being there was fantastic and he wished that was actually happening now.

By the end of the day, it didn't matter what Tsunade said during the cross examination, he felt worthless.

Itachi wanted to wrap Gaara in his arms tight and not let him go but he thought better of it. He didn't need Gaara having the extra stress of more rumors about him. Gaara mentioned that the rumors were getting bad. And people were making things up now. It was ridiculous. They said that Itachi took advantage of him and it was his dad who leaked the videos to get Itachi arrested and whatever. Just stupid.

In the end, Gaara wound up going back to Itachi's house that night. He just wanted to be around someone who wasn't Kakashi or Guy. They seemed stressed enough. Gaara didn't want them worrying about saying something to set him off for any reason.

When they got to Itachi's house, Naruto wasn't there. They didn't know if he was with friends or at school or at the dojo. Naruto knew what was going on with Gaara since everything that happened two weeks ago. However, Naruto was busy dealing with his own break up and hadn't really been the most level headed people to talk to lately.

Gaara stopped going on any social media. He didn't talk to Lee much or even Ino. He was just quiet. A part of him was bothered that Ino hadn't called him all day, but she also knew he needed space.

Gaara and Itachi collapsed in Itachi's bed. Gaara snuggled up to Itachi's side and listened to his heartbeat. He wished Lee was there, but he was more than thankful to have Itachi there. His rock this entire time even though Itachi was dealing with his own set of problems now. 

"Itachi." Gaara whispered.

"Hm?"

"I love you." He heard the strange erratic way the phrase affected Itachi's heart.

"I love you too, Gaara." Itachi stroked Gaara's hair. "Go to sleep." He didn't need to be told twice.

***

"Lee, you're really getting annoying." Neji said and Lee looked over at him innocently. Tenten had left almost an hour ago and Lee was at his desk, bouncing his knee, tapping his fingers on the desk, and clicking his pen. Yeah. He understood why now.

"I am so sorry, Neji." Lee apologized. "Just nerves."

"Well what helps you calm your nerves usually?" Neji asked and the question for whatever reason had Lee's face turn red. "Ah. Okay."

"I-I...." Lee couldn't even think of a good enough lie. He just sat in his chair mortified. Neji pondered in his mind. Since the first night Lee slept in Neji's bed, they had a habit of sleeping together every once in a while. It was more comfortable that way. Neji had a feeling Lee would sleep in bed with him more if he asked, he was probably embarrassed and didn't want Neji to feel annoyed with him always in the bed.

"Come on. Let's go to bed." Neji said and scooted himself over on his bed. Lee blushed but nodded and shut the lights off and Neji felt the familiar dip in the bed and Lee was laying by his side. 

"You need to stop worrying so much. It won't change anything." Neji said seriously. "You're just causing unnecessary stress on your body by thinking of-" Neji was cut off by a rough kiss from Lee. It was a bit unexpected, although Neji wasn't sure why he thought it was so unexpected. Honestly it had been a long time coming. 

Neji kissed back fiercely and wrapped an arm around Lee's neck. The other arm he was awkwardly laying on so couldn't really move at the moment. Lee shifted his position to hovering the top half of his body over Neji's and for a while they just kissed. The room was fairly quiet besides the thumping sound from their neighbor's radio. The only thing that could be heard now was the sounds of wet lips kissing.

Neji's hair was even softer than Lee felt in the shower. He wasn't sure how it felt silkier dry than it did wet but it was a great feeling in-between his fingers.

Neji wished he could calm his heartrate down by sheer will but just having Lee above him smothering him in kisses pretty much nulled that entirely. He was breathing shallowly through his nose and it just made his heartbeat quicken even more. He pulled away from the kiss to get a proper gulp of air and hopefully calm his heart. Lee's eyes were bright in the dark. Neji's eyes traced the wisps that his hair curled out of on the bottom. His hair was getting so long. It was lovely. Neji's hand parted Lee's bangs in the center of his forehead and pushed back. Lee liked his bangs across his forehead because it covered his eyebrows. Neji quite liked his hair parted down the middle, especially with it curling back as it did.

Both of them had so much to say but with the way Neji's eyes looked at Lee's lips and the way Lee's face oozed concern, they just fell back into a pattern of heated kisses.

Lee wasn't wearing much. In their dorm room the heating was a bit broken so the heat was always on. Sometimes they had the window opened but for the most part, Lee slept in shorts and that was it. Neji usually slept in pants and sometimes a night shirt but tonight he was just in pajama pants. This made the soft caressing of skin that much easier to do. Neji's hands felt the defined muscles throughout Lee's chest and arms. Lee's hands admired the softness of Neji's skin.

There was a heat that Neji could feel at his hip and he knew It was Lee's excitement. He didn't exactly know how to go about it. He never really did this before so it was difficult to gage. He didn't want to grab Lee and make him uncomfortable. Neji decided he would brush his hand against it gently, pretending it was a mistake in order to get Lee's opinion of it.

Lee reacted very positively. He moaned into Neji's mouth and Neji could feel the bumps on his skin as a shiver ran through his body. That seemed to be enough of a response. Neji cupped Lee's erection through Lee's shorts and Lee bucked his hips a bit into Neji's hand.

"W-what are you doing?" Lee whispered against Neji's cheek.

"Would you like me to stop?" Neji asked and Lee shook his head.

"Please do not stop." He whined and Neji stopped long enough to tug off Lee's shorts. Lee did the same with Neji's pants and they both tentatively rubbed the other's erection. Lee pulled away and stopped touching Neji and for a moment, Neji was nervous that he stopped because he came to the realization he didn't want this. 

Lee shifted down on the bed and crawled in-between Neij's legs. Neji looked at him curiously and Lee bent down and shyly put the head of Neji's cock in his mouth. Neji tensed instantly and his legs instinctively curled, pushing Lee's body more towards his own, in turn making Lee swallow more of his erection. The feeling was new and interesting. Lee's mouth was hot and went, not really what he was used to with self-pleasure so it was a nice change. The way Lee moved his tongue was sinful and Neji's head tilted backwards and he rolled his hips in time with the bobbing of Lee's head.

In any other instance, Neji might be embarrassed to finish so quickly but there was so much sexual tension between the two of them, he couldn't help himself. He grabbed Lee's hair and laced his fingers through it and pulled, eliciting a nice sound from Lee and Neji's cock pulsed cum down Lee's throat. He felt bad for not giving a verbal warning but he couldn't formulate words. Once Lee was sure there wasn't any more cum, he gave a tug to Neji's cock, licked the slit for the last drop, and kissed Neji's hipbone, smiling up at him. Neji breathed heavily and his body was still sensitive but he wanted more than anything to return the favor so he quickly switched their positions.

Lee's cock was weeping, swollen and precum glazed the tip. Neji gave a long lick to the vein on the underside of Lee's cock and opened his mouth and swallowed as much of Lee as he could. Lee whimpered and both of his hands went to Neji's hair. He spread his legs out more and just marveled at the sight of Neji between his legs. Just the visual had him shiver again. Neji looked up at him with his lavender colored eyes and Lee held eye contact with him as Neji bobbed his head up and down slowly while licking the slit of Lee's cock.

Neji really was a gorgeous guy. Lee couldn't help but noticed how perfect his features were. Lee felt more than lucky to sleep next to the guy and now he had Neji giving him head. It was a strange sequence of things that led to this moment. A moment Lee wouldn't trade for anything. 

Lee was so lost in his own sentimentality, he hadn't realized how close he'd gotten. Neji could tell based on the heavy breathing and how Lee clenched his fists in Neji's hair. It just made Neji suck even harder and flick his tongue even more. It was worth it to hear the cry out Lee made when he finally came. 

Completely naked, Neji crawled back up to the pillows and laid his head down next to Lee. 

"Wow." Lee whispered.

"Are you still stressed?"

"I... I honestly forgot about it for a while." He admitted and Neji gave a rare smile and the two intertwined their legs together and Lee pulled Neji tightly against his chest. "Neji?"

"What?"

"What does this mean?"

"I'm not sure I understand your question." Neji admitted.

"Uh... For us."

"What? That we gave each other blow jobs?" Lee nodded. "What do you want it to mean?"

"I..." Lee's face blushed. It was so hard to think about anyone else as a significant other with everything that happened with Gaara, but he knew that it was something he wanted and needed. Gaara insisted this happened. "That this isn't the last time."

"So you want to be friends with benefits?" Neji asked calmly but internally he really hoped Lee would answer this question correctly.

"No... I would like... to date you, i-if you don't mind." Neji shook his head with another smile and kissed Lee tenderly. Lee closed his eyes to return the kiss and for a while again, he forgot about his stress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **STORY FUN FACT**  
>  Originally in the story Naruto and Sasuke were working at the cafe before Lee. Naruto would often break dishes and Sasuke was a barista that all the girls swooned over. This was changed so I could focus on the Gaara/Lee dynamic instead of adding more characters.
> 
>  
> 
> 1) By one of my readers I was told that Gaara was more mature at the beginning of the story than he is now. My feelings on the matter is, yes. Gaara was more in character at the beginning of the story, but he has developed as a character since then. What are your thoughts?  
> 2) We finally got some Neji/Lee lovins. How y'all feelin?  
> 3) Itachi is my favorite supporting character (literally mean that because he's so supportive) what about you?  
> 4) In Gaara's second year of college there will be a huge shocker! Care to guess what you think it'll be? (It could literally be anything. It doesn't have to do with our two main boys though!)
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr! (My artwork will be posted on tumblr from now on)  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/smoresiesfanfic


	69. Chapter 69

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The court in its entirety  
> Ino being Ino  
> More instagram
> 
> I'm upset there isn't a sex scene in chapter 69. Don't talk to me, I'm emotional.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Desbelleschoses** : I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter. It was very fun to write. This chapter is a bit more serious (besides the random Ino thrown in for comic relief)  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : I hate Rasa too lol. He is. I love him. I'm so sorry Itachi, you are perfect. It's actually harder to write NejiLee than I thought! Idk I thought I'd like it more than I do (I'm just wanting Lee to be with Gaara but that can't happen.) But I do enjoy that they're together at the same time. idk I'm weird.  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : Haha, you're right. No one actually guessed what the plot twist was. I'm super excited for it though. Hopefully the story moves at a faster pace. It's almost 600 pages right now lol. Ino is the fan fave. I love her.  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Aw, I'm sorry I've been a bit slow lately! I'd rather be home writing but my husband drags me out to get christmas shit so I'm always gone. I've been writing this chapter for like two days now. Thank you for your professional input! I tried to put some Kakashi/Gaara fluff in this chapter for you! Well that would be a plot twist for sure! lol, I'm sure you'll be a great mom! (babies suck. Take mine lmao)  
>  **isis2iris** : It's coming soon!! And that would be wild considering Kakashi and Obito had sex. "Obito, where were you hiding your vagina when we slept together?!" lmao

Chapter Sixty-Nine:

Gaara was specifically told not to go to court on the second day. Gaara didn't question it and he was glad he wasn't there.

There were testimonies from several people about the abuse. His sister even put herself on the line and sat up there to talk about her father while he was right there. He accused her of lying and she just ignored him. She loved her dad, it was sad that he never laid a hand on her and used all of that aggression towards Gaara. She would've preferred to be the brunt of his anger but she wasn't and she promised her mom she would protect her baby brother and she would.

Much to Rasa's anger, Kankuro took the stand as well. He talked a lot more than Temari thought he would. He was only two years older than Gaara so Temari was amazed he even remembered what happened. Well, he had quite the memory. Unfortunately, he remembered things that had him sobbing on the stand and he needed a minute.

Tsunade was even able to get a teacher from Gaara's old school to come in and speak on the behalf of the 7 year old Gaara she taught. She mentioned how badly he smelled and how his hair was matted and disgusting. His face was sunken in and he was skittish. She said she'd never forget the day that she was given a Christmas present from his small dirty hands. She opened it in the court and read it out loud.

"Now, there are a lot of spelling mistakes, but I'm going to read it how it was supposed to be said. Dear Mrs. Nohara, I like your class. Sorry I am not smart. Thank you for your class. Sorry you have to yell at the kids when they are mean to me. If it makes you sad, you do not have to do it anymore. Thank you for talking to me. You are the only one who does. I look forward to your class every day even if people are mean to me because you are very nice. Merry Christmas." Her eyes watered and she wiped the tears before they fell. "I will never forget that little boy. He was the sweetest little thing."

Kakashi was frustrated with himself for how frequently he cried during this part of court. He didn't even think he could get on the stand when the time came. Guy was just perpetually crying with no indication he would stop. 

Itachi was dragged onto the stand and spoke about Gaara and how they met. Naturally his relationship was outed to the jury from Rasa's lawyer but Itachi laminated the fact that Gaara was capable of making his own decisions legally and Gaara's guardians already okayed the relationship. This brought them back to Guy and Kakashi not being Gaara's legal guardians so they had no say and Rasa was appalled that his son was able to date such an older guy. Itachi had to get off the stand before he wrung Rasa's neck for his hypocrisy, but of course not before being painted as a predator.

When they took out the TV and played some clips from the tapes, Rasa sunk into his chair to avoid the gaze of the jury. Tsunade made damn sure that the jury was filled with parents which they would be even more strict on someone hurting a child feeling compassionate about their own.

All-in-all, it was a successful day in court even though it was probably the most stressful.

***

Gaara was told to meet everyone at a nearby restaurant so they could all talk. Plus, a lot of people just needed to see that Gaara was okay. Like a peace of mind thing. So Gaara went dressed relatively nicely. Nice dress pants and the cashmere sweater Kakashi bought him so long ago. He even put on the leather shoes Itachi bought him for prom. 

He parked his car and felt warm when he saw Itachi's car and Kakashi's car already there. He quickly made his way inside to see everyone and his smile dropped at their somber expressions. Itachi didn't even try to hide it and he walked over and pulled Gaara into a tight hug. Gaara didn't ask. He didn't want to know. He just hugged Itachi back.

"Gaara. There's someone here that wants to see you." Kakashi said and Itachi pulled away from Gaara in order to compose himself. Gaara nodded and Kakashi led him to the back room that Itachi was able to rent out for the lunch, again wanting privacy. 

Gaara's eyes landed on a woman around Kakashi's age with short brown hair. She looked familiar but with how bad his memory was messed up, he couldn't exactly place it.

"Oh my goodness." The woman covered her mouth and tears sprung in her eyes. "Oh Gaara, you're so handsome." A tear rolled down her cheek and Gaara tilted his head confused. She walked over to him. They were about the same height, he was slightly taller. "Gaara, I don't know if you remember me, but I remember you. You were in my second grade class. Do you remember?" Gaara stared at her for a moment. Certain memories resurfacing slowly. He got a waft of her perfume and that really jetted his memory back to that classroom.

He remembered being made fun of every day but that teacher, the beautiful Mrs. Nohara would sit next to him during recess and play with him. Sometimes she would bring him things. He remembered she even washed his hair in a sink before when it got really bad. If it weren't for her, he'd have to shave his head. 

"Mrs. Nohara." Gaara said softly and she gave a tearful smile and nodded.

"Can I hug you?" She asked and sniffled. He nodded slowly and she pulled him in for a hug. "You were my favorite student, Gaara." She whispered.

"You were my favorite teacher, Mrs. Nohara." She really was. All the other teachers treated Gaara exactly how he looked. Terribly. Like he was filth. They didn't try to understand why he was dirty how he was. They just ignored him. When Gaara was 7, that's when most of the abuse got really bad so it was nice to have someone as pure as Mrs. Nohara to be there for him. 

"Call me Rin. Okay honey?" He nodded slowly and she smiled at him and let him go completely. "I just can't believe what a handsome young man you've become." Gaara blushed and smiled and she nearly turned to goo. "I always knew you would be. You were a very cute kid."

"Not really." Gaara said with a frown and she laughed.

"Yes you were. Despite everything you were very cute." Gaara smiled again and they both glanced around the room. "You have a lot of people that love you."

"I know I do." Gaara said with a hint of pride. The room had his dads, Itachi, his siblings, Naruto, and Tsunade. "If you can believe it, I have friends now."

"I can believe it." Rin's eyes sparkled. "So what is the deal with that Itachi guy? Are you two together?"

"Oh god. Did they bring that up in court?" Gaara was frowning.

"Yeah."

"Please don't say they made him sound like a freak." Rin smiled nervously. "They made him out to be some freaky pedophile, didn't they?" Rin nodded weakly and Gaara sighed. He would have to apologize to him for that later. If there was one thing Itachi sure as shit wasn't, it was a pedophile. Especially since next month, Gaara would be 18 and legally his own person. "That's my ex-boyfriend. Literally the nicest person you could ever meet."

"Ex?" Rin said with a frown.

"Yeah, we broke up a few months ago."

"A few months ago? And he's still going through this trial and everything? Wow."

"He's paying the lawyer." Gaara said with a sigh. "He spends too much money on me."

"Well what happened? If you don't mind me asking. You two just seem to love one another. It's curious that you aren't together." Gaara pursed his lips at the question.

"I'm not mentally capable of being with anyone right now." Rin nodded in understanding. 

Once they were done talking, Gaara was swept into a bear hug from his older brother. It was the tightest hug he'd received to date, only to be the second tightest hug a second later from his older sister. He felt like he hadn't really spent time with them in a while and vowed to himself to change that. They were there for him when he needed them to be so Gaara needed to try to return the favor.

***

"Oh wow, it was really that bad, huh?" Lee ran his fingers through his hair while he talked to his dad on the phone. Neji sat on his own bed, looking at Lee sit at his computer desk. "Well, I am glad that is over. I wish I could have been there. I had two finals today... No I know. I just... Is Gaara okay?... I am glad to hear that. Dad, I have to study for my final tomorrow but I will call you later. I know. I love you too. Bye dad." 

Lee sighed and thrummed his fingers on his desk. Neji continued to stare at his boyfriend from across the room wondering if Lee would be able to feel him staring. He didn't.

"Are you alright?" Lee whirled around on his chair and gave Neji a nervous smile.

"Ah, yes. I am. Sorry. Apparently court was very tough today. My dad was pretty emotional about it." Lee said, scratching his neck. "But anyway, what would you like to do?"

"I thought you were studying?" Neji said with a raised eyebrow.

"You can help me study!" Lee said, smiling. If anyone else said that comment, it would sound sexual. Since it was Lee, Neji could pretty much guarantee that none of it was meant to be taken in that regard. "You are really good at math."

"You just suck at math." Neji said evenly and Tenten burst into the room, Lee was startled. He yelped and toppled out of his chair and hit his forehead on the floor.

"Uh?" Neji looked up at her as she took in Lee's spas out.

"Yup. That's about what it feels like to live with Lee." Neji said with a sigh and Lee groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"Are you alright?" Tenten asked and closed the door behind her.

"Only a bruised ego." Lee muttered and sat on Neji's bed and laid down. Tenten blinked at the familiarity of the two considering Neji didn't try to kick him out of the bed, he just accepted that Lee was now lying next to him. 

"Uh..." Tenten looked curiously at the two and Neji smirked at her. Lee's face was still hidden in a pillow so he couldn't see anything. "Something going on here?" Lee's head moved up and he looked at Neji for validation, not wanting to say anything he wasn't supposed to. Neji nodded his head and Lee turned to face Tenten with a grin.

"I asked Neji to be my boyfriend last night!" He said with a grin. Tenten squealed and ran to the bed and jumped on it, hugging her two boys.

"That is so exciting! Aw, Neji! I knew you two would date! I told you not to be worried about it!" Lee looked at Neji questioningly.

"Worried about what?" He asked.

"That you wouldn't date him. He was pretty torn up about it for a while-"

"-Tenten." Neji hissed, his face now red. Lee didn't care too much, he was grinning.

"Oh really? That is very sweet of you, Neji." He said and hugged the brunet close to his chest. "Although if one of us should have been concerned about the other not dating them I would think it should have been me."

"Why? You're ripped." Tenten stated plainly and Lee looked down at his chest.

"I am not understanding what that has to do with anything." Lee said honestly and Neji shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. Tenten is just being annoying. Anyway, we were going to study for finals tomorrow. Where are your books?" He asked, looking pointedly at Tenten.

"Seriously? You two get together and that's what you do? Study for finals?"

"I mean... Just because I am dating Neji does not mean I do not want to pass math."

"He's pretty terrible at math, honestly." 

"Come on! You two are supposed to be having sex like rabbits! Who wants to practice math after getting together! Jesus, Neji you've been pining over Lee for like two months!" Neji's face was red again and he scowled at her.

"Tenten! Seriously?" 

"Two months?!" Lee's eyes were wide. "I had not realized you liked me for so long." Lee said and then smiled. "That explains it then..."

"Explains what?" Tenten asked.

"Oh. Gaara told me he thought Neji liked me but I thought he was wrong."

"Gaara talked to you about another guy liking you?" Tenten was seriously confused. If anything, she thought Gaara would be fighting for Lee's attention. Neji hadn't told her the heart-to-heart him and Gaara had during break.

"Oh yes."

"...Didn't you say he loved you?" Lee nodded. "Then why...?"

"He said Neji could make me happy and he could not." Lee looked at Neji and smiled. "I think he is right." 

"Aw, we have to take a picture of you two to commemorate this fantastic moment of you guys getting together!" Tenten whipped out her phone and snapped a picture.

The picture included Lee grinning with all of his teeth, eyes closed at the camera and Neji outstretching his hand to stop her from taking the picture with a look of irritation on his face. With a smile, she uploaded it to Instagram.

_**TenOutOfTen** Ahhhh and a congratulations to my boys! [heart eyes emoji] @Hyuuga_Neji @O.G_RockLee_

__**NotADrugDealer** Whoa, wait, man, seriously?  
**O.G_RockLee** WOW Tenten, you work fast.  
**Hyuuga_Neji** Thanks Tenten. You're great -_-  
**TenOutOfTen** Sorry I couldn't help myself ^_^U  
**iNoEverything** Huh. Okay.  
**LavenderSun** Congratulations, brother!  
**StudMuffin** I'm happy for you, Lee. 

Lee looked at the comments and he couldn't help but feel weird reading Gaara's comment. Not just weird but terrible. And he wasn't entirely sure why that was.

***

"Hey Hinata?" Ino looked up at her roommate and Hinata glanced up with a smile.

"Yes, Ino?" Ino stood up and walked to Hinata's bed and sat down.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Hinata raised an eyebrow but gave Ino her phone anyway. Ino scrolled through it for a while and Hinata was curious what she was looking for. Ino clicked something and put the phone to her ear then started checking out her nails for a moment. "Hello? Oh hi! It's Ino. I was just calling to ask how you liked the pastries I made." Hinata giggled and covered her face.

"Is that my uncle?" She mouthed and Ino smirked with a nod and started to twirl her hair.

"Yeah? Oh I am just SO glad you liked them. I plan on opening my own bakery one day so I really wanted to make sure that I got them just perfect, you know?" Ino stood up from the bed and paced around the room as she talked. Hinata couldn't stop watching her with a grin. She knew exactly why Ino was doing this and shook her head, stifling another giggle. "Yeah, you could say I love food. It's one of my favorite things to do, actually. Go somewhere new to eat. You get to experience a whole new world of food each time you go somewhere you've never been to... Yeah. Well, do you have any recommendations for me? Hinata and I will likely be down around Christmas. I'd love to see what your town has to offer... Really? Oh my god you're such a sweetheart." Ino giggled and looked at Hinata and gave a thumbs up. "Yes. Let me give you my number. Yeah, feel free to text me any time. Actually, I have your number right here and I'll just text you. Okay? Thank you so much Hizashi. You are great." She purred. "I'll let you go and text you. Bye hun." She hung up the phone and looked at Hinata and burst out laughing.

"What happened?" Hinata asked with a smile. For whatever reason one thing she loved to do was watch Ino manipulate boys. It was something Hinata would never be able to do so it was fun to live vicariously through Ino.

"He asked me to dinner." Ino said with a smirk and grabbed her own phone and sent a text message to Hizashi.

**_Hey hun, it's Ino [wink kiss emoji]_ **

"All that because Neji is dating Lee?" Hinata asked and Ino scoffed.

"Someone has to piss Neji off. If it's me, I'll do it gladly." Hinata shook her head with fondness at her roommate and Ino handed Hinata the phone. "You don't feel weird about me going on a date with your uncle, do you? I realized I never asked you. That was kinda dickish of me."

"I don't mind at all. Uncle Hizashi is very sweet and his wife passed away so long ago. He had Neji pretty young, too. He's only 37. He's pretty closed off so it's nice to see him even ask someone out on a date." Ino grinned at her roommate.

"God, Hinata. I don't deserve you." She laughed and sat on her bed, feeling her phone go off.

_Ino! It's nice to have a contact number for you._

_**Yes, now you can order desserts whenever you'd like ~! <3** _

_Well I have no doubts that I would text you for something sweet, however desserts are the last thing on my mind._

"Oh DAMN Hizashi. Okay. I feel you." Ino announced and laughed.

"What is he saying?" Hinata jumped off her bed and sat next to Ino while Ino laid on her stomach and her feet were moving restlessly back and forth.

**_Oooo~ With those kind of flirtations, you'll have to take me out to dinner first ;)_ ** __

_I intend to._

"Ohhhh myyy gooooddd." Ino said and her head fell back. "Your uncle is my soulmate."

"He's really diving right in, isn't he?" Hinata said with a giggle. "Oh! Tell him if you are eating dessert at the restaurant or if he'd like you to make it."

"Hinata, I love you."

_**Fantastic. Now, this brings us to the next question. Dessert. Would you like to have it at the restaurant or would you like me to make it for you at your house?** _

"Send a winky face."

"Damn, Hinata, okay."

**_;)_ ** __

_I'm impartial. Although, I can't see how the restaurant would have a better dessert for me than what you would do. You seem to know my tastes fairly well. I think even without a kitchen, you'd be able to figure out exactly what I like to eat._

"JESUS." Ino yelled and Deidara walked into the room and the girls glanced over at him.

"What? I have impeccable timing, yeah. What are you doing?"

"Damn near sexting Hinata's uncle." Ino said and Deidara grinned and kicked his shoes off and climbed into Ino's bed and laid down how the girls were to see the phone.

"Wow. He's super forward. Gotta be like your soulmate or something, un."

"I know I said I was going to be Neji's mom to piss him off but damn I'm really feeling it now. Just call me Auntie, Hinata." Hinata frowned.

"The important question is when can I meet my new cousin." Ino blinked and then laughed.

"Oh Hinata. People think you're innocent and it makes me happy. Anyway, I should text your uncle back but honestly I'm so starstruck I don't even know what to say. What a man." Ino felt Deidara grab her inner thigh. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure you didn't soak the bed, yeah." He said and moved his hand back and Ino snorted.

"You're an ass."

"Tell him you suck dick well." Deidara said and Ino glared at him.

"How is that subtle?"

"It isn't. But I figured you were past subtlety at this point."

"No I will continue being coy. I play the part well."

_**Well then, I am excited to find out if I can please more than just your tastebuds.** _

"Nice."

"Thanks. I try."

"Taste buds is two words though."

"Deidara, suck a dick."

_I have no doubt in any talent you may posses. In fact, I'm excited to see what they may be._

_**You're just going to have to wait and find out now, aren't you?** _

_With bated breath._

"He's so GOOD. I LOVE him!"

***

"Gaara, how are you doing?" Itachi asked and Gaara leaned his head on Itachi's shoulder. They both sat in the darkness of Itachi's living room. It was fairly late and Gaara didn't want to go to sleep. Well, he did but he was way too anxious for the next day. The next day in court would be the last. And then it would be up to the jury to decide what to do with everything. He was wound so tight he wasn't sure how to handle it.

"I don't know." He said honestly. "I'm just..."

"Come here." Itachi said and Gaara shifted so his legs were over Itachi's lap and his head sat on Itachi's shoulder. Itachi's hair was tickling his face but he liked the feeling of it. Gaara closed his eyes and just breathed in a controlled way. He wanted to get as much of Itachi's essence as he could. It was nice just having Itachi there.

"Would you have sex with me if I asked you to?" Itachi was stroking Gaara's hair and he felt Itachi stop for a second before starting up again.

"Um. I suppose it depended on when you asked."

"Right now."

"Gaara, I'm not sure if that's a good idea on your end. You shouldn't make a decision like that because you're upset. I don't want you to regret anything you've done with me."

"I don't regret it and I won't regret it. I'm just stressed out about court tomorrow. I thought it would help."

"Does this have anything to do with Lee?" Itachi asked and Gaara's heart clenched at the name. Yes, he told Lee to date Neji. Yes he was happy for Lee, he clearly liked Neji a lot. But still, it stung to see.

"No. This is more than just Lee." In all honesty, Gaara was afraid that Itachi would be seen as guilty for something and they would put him in jail and Gaara wouldn't see him anymore because he would be mad at Gaara for getting him sent to jail.

"You can talk to me, Gaara. I promise."

"I don't want to talk. I want to have sex with you." Itachi closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"What about we wait a day. If you still want to have sex tomorrow-"

"But what if it's too late tomorrow?!" Itachi flinched at the sudden loudness of Gaara's voice.

"Too late? Why would it be too late?" Itachi asked confused and Gaara moved his legs off of Itachi's lap and just wanted some distance between the two of them. "Gaara, come back and talk to me."

"I'm tired. I want to go to bed." Gaara lied and walked towards the stairs.

"I thought you wanted to have sex." Itachi said and stood up, walking to Gaara.

"So will you have sex with me?"

"Not unless you tell me what you mean by it'll be too late tomorrow." Itachi said with a frown. Gaara continued to walk to Itachi's bedroom. Sure there were other rooms but lately he just needed to sleep next to someone. Which is why he slept here and not at his own house. He couldn't exactly share a bed with Kakashi and Guy.

Gaara sat on Itachi's bed and stared at the wall. Itachi walked in and closed the door behind him and turned on a lamp by the bed and sat next to Gaara just giving him time to think. He wasn't sure what was going on with Gaara, but he didn't like it.

"Please?" Gaara asked and his voice cracked. Itachi's heart ached and he pulled Gaara in for a tight hug.

Gaara initiated a kiss and it got more heated each passing second. Itachi grabbed Gaara and pulled him up to the pillows on the bed and loomed over him, kissing him with as much love as he could show Gaara with just his lips on Gaara's. Gaara's hands went to Itachi's head and he threaded his fingers into Itachi's hair, yanking his face closer. So close it was bruising. Itachi cupped the back of Gaara's neck and his fingertips toyed with the curls on the back of his neck. 

Soon after, Itachi felt something wet. He pulled away and saw tears running down Gaara's face.

"Gaara, what's wrong?" He whispered and Gaara sniffled and shook his head. Itachi kissed his forehead and held him close. "You can talk to me, I told you this. It's okay."

"I don't want you to leave me too." He said with a voice thick of emotions. More tears ran down his face and onto Itachi's shirt.

"Leave you? Why would I leave you?" Gaara clung onto Itachi's torso and cried, trying to memorize everything about him, even though he knew his memory wasn't very good and he'd likely forget anyway. But for now he was able to remember the way Itachi smelled, the feel of Itachi's shirt fabric against his face. The touch of Itachi's skin. For now, it was good enough.

"What if you get in trouble for dating me? And then I can't see you anymore?" Gaara asked, finally looking at Itachi. Itachi's expression dropped and he cupped Gaara's face and wiped the tears away with his thumbs.

"Gaara, I'm not going to jail for dating you. I promise. Don't you worry about that." Itachi kissed Gaara's forehead. "How long have you been worrying about this?"

"...A few weeks." Gaara admitted. "But tomorrow is the verdict for my dad so I just..."

"I assure you, there is very little in this world that can keep me from you." Itachi said honestly and laid them both down and threw the blanket over them. "Please, Gaara. Go to sleep. I'll still be here tomorrow and even the day after that." Itachi promised and Gaara looked up at him with silent tears still streaming down his face. He nodded stiffly and Itachi shut the light off and held Gaara close to his chest, not even caring how wet his shirt got. He just whispered soothing things while rubbing his hand up and down Gaara's back until he was sure that Gaara was sound asleep.

***

There was one more day left in court and Gaara had to be there for that. He wasn't doing too well. No one wanted him to go, understanding his weakened mental state, but no one really had the power to say otherwise. 

Fortunately, since the videos were already seen, a lot of the jury was just surprised to see Gaara alive and well. Some of them even gave him a reassuring look as he took the stand. He started sweating when he saw his father's glare on him. His leg started to bounce and he dug his nails into his skin to keep himself in the moment.

Tsunade questioned him first. She prepped him for this a few days ago but he was still nervous. He knew what to say, but having his eyes heavily on Gaara made it very uncomfortable to talk.

Once she was done, Rasa's lawyer started to question him and Gaara held his breath. It was difficult to answer the questions, especially since he wasn't allowed to elaborate on anything. They brought up things Shukaku did which is what Tsunade said they would but still it was difficult to listen to. If he was asked about breaking someone's arm in the third grade he had to say yes even though he wanted to say that it wasn't HIM. 

Gaara was growing more and more frustrated with the way the lawyer was handling him. Like he was crazy or something. He wasn't crazy.

"How do we even know it was you on those tapes?" He asked and Gaara blinked. Was he being serious? Was that a serious question?

"Your honor, may I ask a question of my lawyer?" Gaara asked and the judge frowned but gave a curt nod. Gaara turned to face Tsunade. "I wasn't here for the showing of the tapes. Was anything shown hurting my back?" He asked and she nodded. Gaara then stood up and yanked his shirt off and turned around. "Is that proof enough?" He asked flatly then put his shirt back on. The lawyer floundered for a bit, not really expecting Gaara to remove his shirt in the courtroom but Gaara just wasn't having it today. He noticed the wince seeing his back caused Kakashi, Guy and Itachi. He felt bad but it wasn't like Itachi didn't know. 

The jury seemed uncomfortable but with the smirk Tsunade had on her face, he guessed it was in their favor. He was just surprised he wasn't reprimanded for taking his clothes off in court. He inwardly chuckled at that but was shaken out of his thoughts once he saw Rasa's glare on him.

***

"Sabaku Gaara has several charges against him for assault. He is not the innocent child they are making him out to be. To rule in his favor would be a crime. A crime against my client, Sabaku Rasa. It has been proved time and time again that there are certain mood disorders he faces, making him a threat to society. Sabaku Rasa should be praised for even keeping him under his roof and protection with the amount of heartache he has caused his family. Mr. Sabaku is an active member in the community with no prior records. He has a thriving business which in case any of you didn't know, young Sabaku Gaara is employed by. That is not something someone would do for their abuser. Thank you for your time." 

Rasa's lawyer sat down and Gaara's eyes burned. His heart was racing and his fingernails were digging into his skin. He knew Shukaku wanted to come out but that would prove a point. He just closed his eyes tightly and tried to ignore the feeling.

"Sabaku Gaara's previous crime accusations were already covered by the doctor on the stand yesterday. Gaara's mental health had been gravely affected by the years of traumatic abuse his father caused him. However with the help of his two guardians, Gaara is undertaking therapy and he is on his medication for his Dissociative Identity Disorder and has not had an episode in quite some time. I don't believe I need to remind the court of the way he lived for a good portion of his life, and how he was forced to live in a storage closet in Mr. Sabaku's _thriving_ business and treated as a slave, only getting paid small amounts of money every so often. That's hardly being on payroll. Help us put a monster away, help Gaara begin to heal by putting the person who caused him so much pain as a young child behind bars."

***

"It's looking really good. The jury is coming up with their verdict now. And if it rules in our favor, the adoption process should be a breeze." Tsunade said to Kakashi and Guy quietly while Gaara and Itachi walked up and down the hallway. 

"Really?" Kakashi looked relieved. 

"My guess is I can get these papers pushed through my Christmas." Tsunade bragged and Guy grinned.

"That would be a most wonderful Christmas gift for us!" He announced loudly and Kakashi elbowed him and he blushed. "Sorry. I was excited."

"I know." Kakashi gave him a warm smile. "I just don't want to ruin the surprise with Gaara." Guy agreed and they prepared to wait for however long the jury too.

While Itachi and Gaara were waiting through the recess, Itachi just wanted to squeeze Gaara. Most of all he wanted to punch Rasa's lawyer in the face for saying all of the lies he did. How could someone willingly be a lawyer of terrible people like that? He was just glad the nightmare was almost over.

***

Two hours and 48 minutes later, they were called back into the court room and Gaara couldn't breathe. He knew that if it ruled in his favor, Itachi would be off the hook for whatever his father was attempting to charge him for. Plus, he would be able to get away from his father. It would be great. He was just so nervous. As if they announced he was innocent and Itachi would be thrown in jail immediately. Itachi didn't seem to be worried. He gave a reassuring squeeze to Gaara's hand and Gaara swallowed thickly.

Him and Tsunade stood before the judge as his father did with his lawyer. 

"In the matter of the people V. Sabaku Rasa, on the count of child abuse in the first degree, how do you find the defendant?"

"We find the defendant, Sabaku Rasa, guilty."

"The jury is dismissed with thanks to the court." The judge nodded at the jury then turned to face Rasa. "Your sentence for child abuse in the first degree is 25 to life in upstate prison. No bond at this time. Thank you." Hitting the gavel, the judge got up and left the court room leaving Rasa wide eyed and angry. Itachi quickly grabbed Gaara and led him out of the court room, hiding him from cameras that Gaara didn't even realize were there. They were asked a lot of questions but Itachi just brisked through and ignored everyone. Kakashi and Guy weren't far behind but Kakashi had to drag Guy away from Rasa. As Gaara fled the court room, Rasa said some colorful things in his son's direction and it hit a nerve with Guy and he was none too happy. Kakashi assured him that they won and they needed to leave now.

Tsunade stopped to discuss a few main points of the case with the reporters, but mostly to allow Gaara and his family to leave the scene of the court.

***

Much to Itachi's chagrin, Gaara decided to stay at home with Guy and Kakashi. He said he felt bad he hadn't spent time with them. Itachi spent as much time with Gaara as he could before he had to go and when he left he promised Gaara if he needed him, Itachi would be there in an instant. 

"Gaara, let's go for a drive." Kakashi said and Gaara nodded curiously. They were both in their pajamas and Kakashi was even wearing slippers. Guy was in his boxers and ran upstairs to put on some sweatpants and everyone loaded in the car. Guy forced Gaara to sit up front with Kakashi and they drove around in silence. Gaara was thankful for the times Kakashi drove him around when he needed to process things. 

"Thank you." Gaara said earnestly, 20 minutes into the drive. "Both of you. Thank you. For everything." Kakashi grabbed Gaara's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Don't mention it, Gaara. You're our son. It's what we're going to do. Protect you. Always remember that." Kakashi said and Gaara nodded, holding back tears. It was one thing when someone like Itachi or Lee told him things like they'd always be there for him. It was completely different coming from a parental figure. Gaara always wanted to have parents that loved him. Now he did. They weren't his biologically, but he loved them so much. 

"And you two are my dads." He said with a sniffle. That got Guy sobbing and he hugged Gaara from behind Gaara's chair.

"Oh Gaara! You are so youthful! Never change! You are wonderful! Rival! Join me in telling our son how amazing he is!" Gaara blushed and wiped a tear from his cheek and sniffled again.

"Gaara, you are so great at so many things. Despite everything you've been through. You're smart, you're creative, you're talented. At such a young age you can run circles around most people in the kitchen. You're top of your class even after everything you went through. You're kind. You're special. And you're loved. As your dad, I am very proud of you." Kakashi said seriously. 

Gaara was staring at Kakashi in a form of amazement. The words ran through his mind several times over but he couldn't get them out of his head. Proud? He was talented? What did he do to deserve the greatest parents in the world? What did he do to deserve anything? Just last year, Gaara had nothing. Barely his family. No parents. No friends. Nothing. Now his life was filled with things he only dared to dream about. 

"I love you guys." Gaara said, finally and even though Kakashi smiled at that, he saw the tear escape his eye.

"We love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) yass the court is over. I was going to make it more dramatic but I'm lazy so I hope you enjoyed it. Were you expecting the guilty verdict so quickly?  
> 2) AW MAN, INO. ARE YOU AS PUMPED FOR ME FOR THIS DATE?? I'M HYPE.  
> 3) I'm on the fence if Gaara and Itachi should actually sleep together again. What are your thoughts? (Side A- I don't think Gaara is in the right state in mind. Side B- I mean Lee is getting some, why can't Gaara??? xD)  
> 4) Rin! Was anyone surprised to see her??
> 
>  
> 
>  **INSTEAD OF STORY FUN FACT...**  
>  The following people, please respond to the three questions I ask next,  
>  **Rae, RainiDayz, uurahara, Luna_Lily, Leah, Lollipopgang71, Halpmehpls7580, OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor, Desbelleschoses** (If your name was not here, it may be called in Mama)  
>  You guys commented the most on the story. I would like to do something as a thank you for your constant support. To show I care and love you. Just answer all the questions or one, it doesn't matter.  
> 1) What was your favorite scene from You Bake Me Crazy?  
> 2) Who are your two favorite characters in the story?  
> 3) Is there anyone you lowkey ship in the story (not saying anything will come of it, but I can do something for you if you tell me who they are. [for example, my husband lowkey ships Ino and Gaara lmao])  
> THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT. I LOVE YOU. (Even if you haven't commented in a while, I still love you.)


	70. Chapter 70

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of break  
> NaruSasu fight  
> Ino bothers Neji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Halpmehpls7580** : then you may die lol. Not this chapter but soon. Thank you for your comments. They mean everything to me! Don't apologize for long comments. I prefer them.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : I really wanted it to be not guilty but I decided I dragged it on long enough and I had better shit to do lol. Neji is slowly dying. It's fantastic to write. Gaara does need more healing, my baby. I love him.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Those are all good picks. I wish I had Ino as my BFF. I hope your dog was also relieved to hear the verdict. I love Hinata too, she's a true wingman.  
>  **MirSama** : I'm weirdly hyped to write the date.  
>  **oxOhunnOxo** : I WILL DIE IF HE CALLS HER MOM. IMAGINE?? "NEJI, PUT ON A COAT, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE" "OKAY MOM"   
> **WillowstreamHP** : Aw thank you so much. I'm so glad you enjoyed and you're here with us now lol. I update pretty often so you don't have to worry about that. I did write more sasu-naru just for you this chapter. Thank you for telling me about Rock Lee and his Ninja Pals. I did not know about it but it's hysterical. I watched two episodes last night Neji being a dressed as a girl during Lee's skits has me dead. And I'm glad the story keeps you happy. You can check out my other story, Mama. It has the same Guy/Kakashi and Ino/Gaara dynamic! Thank you for your prompts. I will be sure to use them.  
>  **Lolipopgang71** : I wish I could take a 15 hour long nap. I slept for 3 1/2 hours last night. I'm dying inside. I tried to put more mamakakashi in this chapter too. I like Kakashi and Gaara moments. They're sweet. I think my favorite part about your favorite characters is that none of the 3 you picked at the main characters. Same. I never pick the main characters lol. I totally lowkey ship Ino and Shukaku too. I even drew a picture of drunk ino and shukaku making out because I lost control over my life. Write as much a you want to on a comment. I love long comments lol

Chapter Seventy:

"Are you sure?" Lee asked with his brow furrowed. Neji nodded.

"Yes. I need to visit my father for a while but we can always meet up later on in the break. If you want, you can come to my house or I can drive down to yours. It all depends." Lee nodded with a frown. "Winter break is only a month long."

"I know. It will just be strange to not see you for even just a week." Lee admitted and Neji nodded slowly.

"I know. I feel the same way. But I think we'll be fine." He said softly and Lee sighed and continued to pack his things.

Now that all the finals were over, it was time to go home. Lee couldn't be more thankful for that. He really wanted to see Gaara, it had been such a trying month and Gaara had no support whatsoever from Lee since Lee was busy with all the testing. Sure, he would miss Neji and Tenten, but he was excited to see his friends from home too.

"How about I drive down next week to see you for a few days?" Neji offered and Lee smiled at him.

"That would be wonderful. I could also drive up to visit you sometime this month too. I do not know if you are interested, but there is usually a Christmas party at Itachi's house and a New Year's party at my house. You are more than welcome to come. Your father could join us-"

"Absolutely not." Neji cut in with a frown. Lee blinked.

"Uh, sorry?"

"I don't need a situation in which Ino and my father are in the same vicinity. For my own sanity." Lee nodded with a wry smile.

"Yes, I suppose you are correct. But the offer still stands. I would not want to take you away from him for the very important times of the holiday season. That is, if you would like to go to the party." Neji pondered for a moment about it.

He thoroughly enjoyed himself last time he was down at Lee's house. Most of the time was spent at Itachi's house. He barely saw Lee's parents and honestly he got along well with Gaara which was surprising. The only downside would be Ino. Pretty much everyone else was good though. Then he wondered if Hinata would be there. It was possible if Ino was there. Would Deidara be there too? Everyone else they were friends with lived in the town so of course they would be there. Hm. 

"I will think about it." Lee grinned.

"That is all I can ask for!"

***

Sasuke got home from school and sat in his car looking at the estate. He didn't want to come home. The month he'd been away was painful. There was just a week until Christmas and he just didn't want to be home. He hadn't even tried to talk to Naruto. He wondered if Naruto even cared.

He got out of his car and grabbed his duffel bag and stomped up the ice covered steps all the way to the front door. He opened it and walked inside, kicking off his shoes. He looked at the shoes that were there already and saw with a churn of his stomach that Naruto's were there. 

"I will murder you." Sasuke heard Gaara say with venom. 

"I'd like to see you try!" Naruto shouted with a laugh.

"Please, no murder in my home." Itachi said with a resigned sigh. Sasuke slowly walked to the dining room where they all were. He was able to finally see the table. 

"Four Kings." Naruto said and put down four cards.

"Bullshit." Gaara responded quickly and Naruto grumbled and picked up the whole pile.

"How the hell did you even know that?" He asked and Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Because I have kings in my hand! Stop being obnoxious with your lies. Now, two ones." Gaara put down cards.

"One three."

"Four fours."

"JESUS CHRIST NARUTO, BULLSHIT. I LITERALLY HAVE ALL THE FOURS." Naruto groaned again and picked up the pile. 

"You really don't know how to play that game, huh?" Sasuke asked with a smirk, leaning on the doorframe.

"Sasuke!" Itachi sounded surprised but he smiled. "Welcome home, little brother."

"Yeah, I just got here. You guys are all in the dining room playing Bullshit like a bunch of 50 year olds." Sasuke said with a chuckle.

"It was Gaara's turn to pick the game. He decided card games were easier since him and Naruto almost got into a fist fight over Mario Party." Gaara's eyes narrowed at Naruto and Naruto returned the gesture. 

"Wow, I haven't played that in so long. We should play." Sasuke said and Naruto jumped up.

"Okay. Gaara. You're on my team." Naruto said and Gaara raised a brow.

"Why don't we just do four player? Why do we have to do teams?" He asked and Naruto ignored him and Gaara rolled his eyes and they went to the living room and got the Gamecube out. 

"Why do we even have a Gamecube still?" Sasuke asked.

"Because it's my favorite game system." Itachi responded simply and handed out the controllers. He grabbed a black one, Sasuke got blue, Gaara got red and Naruto got yellow. They all sat on the couch and Itachi, being player one, set up the game. 

Gaara picked Boo with a smile, Itachi got Yoshi and Sasuke shoved him with a pout so Itachi took his controller and picked Waluigi and Naruto meant to pick Toad but picked Toadette by mistake and the game started and Sasuke was glowering the entire beginning.

The entire game consisted of:

Sasuke rolling the lowest number possible, even when he was given 3 dice rolls, he only got to move 3 spaces since he rolled 3 ones.   
Gaara had no hand eye coordination and kept running off the edge during mini games that allowed him to move around freely with no barrier.  
Naruto kept landing on spaces with Bowser and getting their stars taken away.  
Itachi kept having to duel people, so naturally picked Gaara since Gaara had a tendency to kill himself leaving no effort on Itachi's part.  
More than once, Gaara managed to switch places with Itachi when Gaara was just a few spaces away from the star leaving Naruto nearly in tears.  
Sasuke could not do most of the mini games that he had to rapidly hit the A button in succession and nearly threw his controller.  
Gaara finally found a mini game he was good at, all he had to do was jump over electric shocks and he was in the final round between him and Itachi and somehow he just jumped off the end and died. Naruto groaned for 30 minutes after.

It was no surprise that Itachi and Sasuke won. It wasn't a very fair game in the sense that each time Gaara and Naruto got a star, Naruto would land on Bowser and they would lose it instantly since no matter what, it would come up with the option that Bowser was going to take a star. When Sasuke landed on Bowser he got a mini game but the 7 times Naruto landed on Bowser he lost something.

In the end, the only thing Naruto and Gaara won at was landing on red spaces and Bowser spaces.

"I am never playing this game again." Gaara said with a frown.

"You say that until someone else decides to play it and then you think 'wow that sounds like fun' and then we get back to this point." Itachi said and Gaara just chuckled and tossed his controller on the carpet and rubbed his face.

"I hate everything"

***

"Naruto. Can you take a walk with me?" Sasuke asked and Naruto frowned. His heart was pounding just looking at Sasuke and he was just so damn bummed out. The break up was still upsetting to him and he knows he was the one to initiate it but still.

"Sure." Naruto looked over at Gaara and Itachi. "Be right back." They nodded and went back to their conversation.

Sasuke led Naruto to the front door and Naruto sighed and put on his coat and shoes and Sasuke did the same, then brought Naruto to his car which had already been warming up. It was freezing outside.

They got into Sasuke's car and Naruto looked around sadly. It was a completely new car. No memories. In fact, Naruto hadn't even ridden in the car yet. Sasuke's other friends must have already. That thought made him frown. Sasuke got in the car and he backed out of the driveway and just drove on backroads for a while. He took familiar streets and Naruto got lost in the scenery he was used to. These were roads Sasuke and Naruto drove on often. At least when Sasuke wasn't two hours away at college.

"What did you want to talk about?" Naruto asked, leaning his head on the window and looking outside.

"Naruto... I want to show you something." Sasuke said and Naruto just nodded with a frown and the car was once again filled with silence.

They pulled into the dojo parking lot and Sasuke got out of the car. Naruto was confused but followed anyway and Sasuke pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

"I asked Kakashi for the spare." Sasuke answered Naruto's unasked question. Naruto nodded slowly and Sasuke opened the door and closed it behind them. Sasuke walked briskly to the locker room and Naruto continued to trail after him with a frown. Sasuke went to his locked and got his uniform on and stared at Naruto expectantly, then left the locker room leaving Naruto alone. Naruto wasn't exactly sure what they were doing but got changed into his own and went out to find Sasuke.

Sasuke was stretching on the dojo floor and blaring music from his phone. Naruto walked over and began doing his warm ups too.

Everything was done without talking. The only thing they heard was the music on Sasuke's phone. Once they were warmed up, Sasuke got into a fighting stance and Naruto followed.

"Don't cry when I kick your ass too hard." Naruto said with a smirk and Sasuke scoffed.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try, loser." Naruto was surprised at the sentence. Not because of what he said, but how he said it. The term "loser" was said how most people would say "baby" to their significant other.

The fight started and when Sasuke landed the first hit, Naruto was just overwhelmed with the realization of everything they were going through right now. His rage at being abandoned by Sasuke, their break up, just missing Sasuke so much. Naruto grew angrier. He fought back more viciously. 

Sasuke tripped Naruto to the floor but Naruto flipped backwards and caught himself, then charged at Sasuke with a closed fist. Sasuke narrowly missed Naruto's attack and pushed Naruto's shoulder to the side making Naruto lose his balance and fall over. Naruto swung his legs under Sasuke's feet and Sasuke fell backwards and jutted his hands out to catch himself and spin off to the side. 

Jumping back up Naruto ran at Sasuke and just shoved him to the ground. Sasuke slid a few feet back and stared at Naruto confused for the random attack that honestly didn't do anything but inconvenience Sasuke for a few seconds. Sasuke jumped up and ran at Naruto and punched him across the face. Naruto's head was tossed to the side but he remained upright and turned his head slowly to Sasuke and growled, returning the punch with as much strength as he could muster.

Once they established there weren't rules with how they were fighting, they didn't continue to use practiced karate stances and instead just went in for whatever they felt could cause the most damage.

Sasuke and Naruto stood across from each other breathing heavily. Usually they wouldn't tire this quickly but they were putting all of their energy into fighting for the sake of beating the shit out of each other instead of fighting to win.

Naruto walked towards Sasuke on wobbly legs and tiredly pulled his fist back and went to punch Sasuke. Sasuke grabbed his fist from the air and squeezed it, then yanked it down to his side, making Naruto fall into Sasuke's chest. They both fell to the ground and Naruto was too tired to get up. They continued their erratic breathing and just looked at each other. Naruto was laying on Sasuke's chest and once he realized what he was doing, he pulled away to sit elsewhere. Sasuke's grip tightened and he kept Naruto on his chest.

"You're still a loser." Sasuke said once he could breathe properly again and Naruto glared. He went to argue but Sasuke grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him up and kissed him. Naruto put both hands on either side of Sasuke's head in order to keep himself upright. He pulled his head away and stared at Sasuke curiously. "Naruto, I'm sorry."

"What?" Sasuke sat up slowly and Naruto moved out of his way. They sat side by side and Sasuke looked at him. Both of them were covered in cuts, bruises and blood.

"I'm sorry I didn't make you a priority. You should've been higher on my list but I was just really stressed out. There isn't anyone I'd rather be with than you. I hope you know that. I wasn't ignoring you because someone else was more interesting. I was just... consumed by my crazy schedule." Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, I... I love you."

"Sasuke..."

"I know you might thing I won't beg, but I'm already on my knees right now." Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes with his lips pressed together firmly. "I made my schedule for the next semester already and I cut my class load down by quite a bit."

"Why would you do that?"

"I'm hoping it will show you that I really do want to be with you." Sasuke admitted quietly. "I waited to date you for 4 years, do you really think I only wanted to date you for a few months?"

"I just... I don't know Sasuke." Naruto said with a sigh. Sasuke scooted closer to Naruto and cupped his face and slowly brought their lips together, giving Naruto all the time he would need to pull away. He didn't. With a feeling of relief, Sasuke just basked in kissing Naruto. It was such a wonderful feeling and he didn't want to ever not be able to kiss Naruto again.

"I love you." Sasuke whispered against Naruto's lips and kissed him again. He put more passion in the kiss then pulled his lips away again. "I love you." He repeated and pushed Naruto to the floor with the push of their kiss. "I love you." Sasuke kissed along Naruto's jaw and licked his earlobe. "I love you." He kissed down his neck and to his collar bone. "I love you." 

"Sasuke. Sasuke, stop." Naruto said and grabbed Sasuke's face. "Why are you crying?" Sasuke didn't even realize he was. 

"I love you." Sasuke responded with a grave expression. "And I'm sorry."

"Sasuke..." Naruto frowned and hugged his ex-boyfriend. "You're an asshole with a superiority complex and most of the time you're downright rude." Naruto said and Sasuke just stared at him, tear tracks on his face still. "And I love you anyway." Naruto shoved Sasuke to the floor and kissed him. "I love you very much."

"Can we please just... be together?" Sasuke asked and Naruto wiped Sasuke's tear stained cheeks. 

"I'll think about it." Naruto said and gave a soft smile. Sasuke pulled Naruto down for another kiss.

***

"Shit, why does this always happen?" Kakashi asked and Gaara sighed. They waited until the last minute to actually go shopping. To be completely fair, Gaara did buy most of his Christmas gifts already, he just needed one for Lee. He wasn't really sure what to get for his best friend. He didn't even know if Lee was getting him anything. Would Neji be angry if Lee got Gaara something?

Waiting on line in the mall was probably the worst part of Christmas shopping. Especially since they were on a strict schedule since Lee would be coming home in a few hours. He was already on his way down and Kakashi just completely forgot to buy the list of things he wanted to get for Lee. The only reason he felt bad for this was because he'd already bought Gaara's gifts which Gaara didn't know about.

"Do you have any other stores to go to after this?" Gaara asked and Kakashi pulled out his list.

"Uh, yeah. We can hit your store first though." Gaara nodded and glanced around the store looking at the complete chaos. It was ridiculous that they waited 20 minutes on line to buy a few articles of clothing, but Kakashi was finally able to pay and they made a mad dash out of the store. 

Gaara went to Hot Topic to find a gift. He knew they had a Disney section and the one thing in common Lee and him would have forever, is their connection to their favorite movie, Beauty and the Beast.

Finding more than one thing he liked was funny but he managed to buy most of them without Kakashi looking at him funny. Once they paid they ran off in another direction to finish Kakashi's shopping.

After that, they ran to the Target in the mall to stock up on wrapping paper and tape. They would have a lot to do once they got home.

They reached the car an hour and 17 minutes after they went inside and laughed. Lee would be home in about 40 minutes and it took 30 minutes to get home. 

"Think you can distract him while I wrap the gifts?" Kakashi asked and Gaara smirked.

"I'm sure I can work something out." At that comment Kakashi sighed for a while and Gaara raised a brow.

"Sorry. I just remembered Lee has a boyfriend."

"And?"

"Oh, nothing. I just hoped it would've been you by now." Gaara's cheeks warmed and he smiled softly. It was a flattering compliment to say the least.

"Why? You're able to see all the fucked up things that happen with me." Kakashi scoffed.

"You say that like I don't see the fucked up shit that Lee's done either." It could be Gaara's shitty memory, but he honestly couldn't remember Lee doing fucked up things.

"Him and I talked about it. I told him he should date Neji because I wasn't ready." Gaara said and sighed.

"You're a better person than me." Kakashi said with a low chuckle. "Guy would have a better chance of Jesus coming off the cross and saying hello to him than to have me tell him to date someone else." Gaara smiled at that. 

"Do you ever regret being with Guy so long? I'm just curious if being with someone for almost 30 years gets old." Kakashi smirked.

"Guy is annoying as hell and louder than anyone I've ever met in my life. If I could go back in time though, I would probably date him sooner." Kakashi said honestly. "I would've said yes the first time he asked me out. Maybe that's why I like you and Lee so much. You two just remind me of myself and Guy. In my mind, I guess I'm just trying to save you both the long drawn out story of getting together."

"I appreciate it, Kakashi. I just don't want to get with him too soon and mess up what we could have had." Kakashi nodded slowly. He understood, really, he did. He just needed to learn to look at them as Gaara and Lee, not himself and Guy.

***

"IF Y'ALL AREN'T IN THE MO'FUCKIN' CAR IN 3 MINUTES, YOUSE CAN STAY HERE." Ino shouted out of her window. Hinata giggled and suddenly Deidara and Kiba came out from the building holding their bags. Deidara scowled at her.

"You realize you used northern and southern lingo in one sentence, right?" He asked dryly and threw his things in the bed of the trunk and climbed inside.

"Shut the hell up." Ino responded and Kiba got in the car behind Hinata.

"Y'all ready for Hinata's house~!?" Ino asked happily and Deidara grinned viciously.

"Yes, this will be great. You're sure Neji will be there, yeah?" He asked and Hinata looked at Deidara with a glint of mischief in her eye.

"I am positive." Deidara leaned over the center console to eye what Ino was wearing and she swatted him in the face.

"Sit the fuck down I'm trying to back up."

"I just wanted to see the outfit you were going to use to seduce Neji's dad but you're in your pajamas, un." Ino raised an eyebrow.

"When the fuck have I driven in anything but pajamas when going on a long drive? Plus, we're stopping at Hinata's house first. My makeup is done, all I need to do is get changed and voila! We see Hizashi. It'll be great. Who's going to record Neji's face?" Hinata giggled but Kiba called dibs first.

"I am so excited to ruin Neji's year."

"But there's only like 2 weeks left of this year." Kiba said and Ino looked at him in her rear view mirror with a smirk on her face.

"I'll have Hizashi come to me for New Years."

***

Neji was sitting in his uncle's living room bored out of his mind when he heard a car pull in. He sighed. Finally, Hinata was here and they could get on with their day. There was a huge lunch made for everyone that no one could touch until Hinata got there. Suddenly, Neji heard his uncle say something.

"Yeah, looks like Hinata is here with her friends." Neji looked at his uncle in horror.

"Is one of them blonde?"

"Uh, two of them are, looks like." Neji's eyes closed in frustration and he prayed that Naruto and Ino switched colleges and Deidara and Naruto would come in the house instead of Deidara and Ino. Luckily, his dad was still in the kitchen, furthest away from the door to help set up.

The door opened and Hinata greeted her father with a smile.

"Just gonna drop this off real quick! Be right down!" She called and they ran up the stairs quickly and Hiashi glanced up the stairs as they went. He wondered how long they were staying. She just said a few days on the phone but he didn't know what that meant.

"What are the odds that I can leave with my father?" Neji asked his uncle and Hiashi raised an eyebrow at his nephew.

"Uh. Why?"

"No reason." Neji said with a frown and went to find his father.

Upstairs Ino ripped open her luggage and tried to find the right dress.

"Fuck. I left my dress on my bed." Ino said and smacked her forehead. Hinata opened her closet to show the dresses she had. "Oh, Hinata you are a life saver." Ino jumped up and looked through the dresses, deciding on a black one. Hinata's dresses were more conservative than Ino's would be. But Hinata was also shorter than Ino. The skirt part was just under fingertip length and it was form fitting against her hips and thighs. The top didn't have any cleavage which was a bummer and the sleeves were simple and covered her shoulders. It was a nice, simple dress.

"Your ass looks great in that, yeah." Deidara commented and Ino turned to him and frowned.

"Shit I forgot you were in the room." She said and laughed. "I didn't mean to get changed in front of you." Kiba sat on the bed with a look of concentration.

"No it's fine. Do your thing. We aren't even here." He said with a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

"Well..." Ino slipped on her strappy black heels. "Let's go, shall we?" Ino said and looked at herself in the mirror one last time. One thing she hated was the fact that she had such large thighs. Hinata had a thigh gap. Ino did not. She pushed the thought away in the back of her mind and they all left the room. Hinata made sure to dress up too and Deidara and Kiba wore nice polo shirts.

Kiba had his phone on record and walked in front of Ino and pretended to text. Once Ino walked into the dining room, Neji's eyes were glued to her and he scowled.

"Neji~! Hi~!" She said with a smile. "Did you miss me?"

"With every bullet so far." He responded dryly and Ino smirked at him. Oh she actually missed him. Hiashi walked in and Hinata hugged her father with a smile.

"Dad, these are my friends. Kiba, Deidara and Ino." She introduced and Ino shook his hand first. Hinata was surprised there was no hint of flirting in the way she stood. It was strictly professional.

"It's so nice to meet you. Your daughter is the greatest friend I could ask for. Thank you for her." Neji rolled his eyes but Hiashi let himself smile. From there Kiba and Deidara shook his hand and introduced themselves. 

Ino's back was facing the door that led to the kitchen and Hinata was directing everyone to sit down in certain spots. She looked up to see the door open and Hizashi stepped into the dining room and paused.

"Uncle! Hello!" Hinata said sweetly and Ino turned around and smiled sweetly at him.

"Mr. Hyuuga, it's so nice to see you again." Ino said and held out her hand for a handshake but Hizashi took it a step further. He took her hand and kissed it.

"Nice to see you too, Ino." He smiled and Kiba was choking on his laughter at Neji's expression. "You look lovely."

"Thank you. This is actually Hinata's dress so the credit goes to her." Hinata shrugged with a smile and Hizashi pulled Hinata in for a hug. 

"It's so great to see you." He said and kissed the top of her head. 

They all sat down and Hizashi was thankful. If there was one thing driving him crazy about Ino's dress, it was how tight the bottom part was. The one thing Hizashi could appreciate the most on a woman's body was the thighs. And Ino had great thighs. And great hips. And a waist. And- Okay he needed to control himself.

Ino sat in-between Hinata and Deidara and they were giggling about something. Neji kept glaring at his father and even elbowing him.

"Seriously dad?" He muttered and Hizashi's face colored. "You're ridiculous."

"I would love to see how you are with your boyfriend." Hizashi responded simply and Neji blushed. How the hell did his dad even find out about that? He glared at Ino. He didn't even care if it was her or not. He was going to blame her anyway.

"So, what are you three going to school for?" Hiashi asked as they ate.

"Digital filmmaking and media production, yeah." Deidara looked at Kiba.

"Game art and Design."

"Baking and Pastry."

"Ah, so you're all art students. Same as Hinata?"

"Yeah. That's how we all met. Hinata was my roommate and Deidara is Kiba's roommate." Ino explained. "What are you going for, Neji? You never mentioned."

"Biomedical engineering." Neji said flatly and Ino nodded, honestly impressed but it didn't show on her face. She had a great poker face. 

"I'm just amazed we have a culinary student in the house and still had to prepare lunch." Hiashi said lightheartedly.

"I would be more than happy to cook for you if you give me kitchen space."

"You can use my kitchen whenever you'd like." Hizashi said with a smile and Neji groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) AWWwwwWw NaruSasu <3 Who thinks they should get back together now?  
> 2) What do you want to see at a Deidara, Hinata, Kiba, Ino sleepover? (We can throw Neji in there too)  
> 3) Any gift ideas you have for anyone?  
> 4) Any date ideas you have with Ino and Hizashi? XD
> 
> **To everyone I called that didn't respond last chapter, to make sure I have time to do everything you have until Saturday to get back to me on your answers. Thank you!**
> 
> Also, I draw a lot for this story but if you'd like to draw anything for me, I would love it so much! I'd love to see what anyone can come up with!


	71. Chapter 71

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sleepover at hinata's house!  
> Lee and gaara fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WillowstreamHP** : I'm glad you like the story so much. I would respond more but I'm very tired. It's 3am. I just wanted to get this chapter done lol  
>  **Vivi** : Aw, thank you so much. I love this story so I'm happy to share it with you.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : They'll get back together I was just wondering what you guys wanted lol. Guy and Kakashi are #goals, aren't they?  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : Love the mistletoe idea! I'm totally going to use it! Thank you for all your ideas! btw idk if you saw it but go to my fanfic tumblr. I posted your gift.hope you like it.  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Thank you honey. I'm rewatching Naruto too. I'm on like 170 or something I think. I added the spin the bottle. Thank you for everything! I'm very tired right now so I can't respond like I normally do lol

Chapter Seventy-one:

Later that night, the gang was all huddled in Hinata's room. Neji included. He was absolutely miserable. 

Ino decided the best way to keep a guy wrapped around her finger was to tease him so naturally she had him go home alone. But she flirted enough to hook Hizashi in. He looked positively smitten when he left. Hinata couldn't help but laugh.

"Neji, my man. How do you feel about hanging with the cool kids, un?" Deidara asked, grinning.

"I'll let you know once I find them." Neji said flatly.

"Ouch. That was uncalled for." Deidara said, clutching his heart in mock offense. "It isn't MY fault your dad has a hard on for Ino, yeah."

"Don't even bring that up." Neji said with a scowl.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Ino asked, walking into the room with Hinata. They were both changed into pajamas. Ino was wearing rainbow striped pajama pants and a black camisole with no bra and if Kiba stared a bit too long, no one commented. Hinata was wearing a large black T-shirt that went to her knees and baggy pink pants. They both sat down with the group.

"Let's play spin the bottle~!" Deidara chuckled evilly.

"Absolutely-no-"

"I'm down."

"Ino!" Neji scolded. "Have you no shame?" Ino looked around the circle with a confused expression.

"Does... Does he know who he's talking to?"

"Apparently not." Kiba smirked.

"I'm not drunk enough to consider playing this juvenile game with the lot of you." Neji said and Hinata blinked and crawled over to under her bed and pulled a bunch of junk out until she found a box. She pulled that out and pushed everything back under the bed. Ino watched curiously and Hinata opened the box and there was alcohol.

"Eyyyy!! Turn up!" Ino said excitedly and Neji looked scandalized.

"Hinata!" She looked at him innocently.

"What, brother?" She asked and he frowned.

"Why do you have so much alcohol under your bed?"

"...To drink?" Hinata said slowly, looking like she was heavily regarding the question.

"That... isn't what I meant."

"Your sweet Hinata isn't as innocent as you think, Neji, dear." Ino said and grabbed the bottle of ¾ full vodka. 

"Let's play Drawful." Hinata said, changing the topic. Ino perked up.

"Yeeeeess!" She grabbed her phone and Hinata turned on her Xbox and everyone except Neji got their phones ready.

"What...?" Neji asked slowly and Ino grabbed his phone with no regard for personal space and turned it on. She wasn't surprised to see his background was just the color blue. She typed in the website and got him set up and handed him his phone back. "You named me already?"

"Well yeah." Ino said smiling. She looked at the screen to see everyone's name. They had TwatWaffle, Princess, Gorgeous, Sexy, and Hinata.

"Oh man, wonder which one Hinata is."

"I'm Princess." Hinata said simply.

"...Who's Hinata?" Neji asked and Kiba grinned.

"I'm sexy." Ino said with a smirk. "That means Dee is Gorgeous."

"Why thank you, hn." Deidara said, smirking.

"... Anyway... Let's get on with it."

Neji still had no idea what he was doing and even more confusing when a prompt came up on his phone.

"Wait... I have to draw this? On my phone? With my finger?"

"Yup." Hinata said, already drawing hers. "You draw your prompt, then when it's your picture's turn, it gets shown on the screen and all of us try to come up with a title for it. Then it shows all the titles and we have to click the one that we think inspired the picture. If you pick the correct title, you and the artist gets a point. If you pick the wrong title, the person who's drawing it was gets a point." Neji nodded slowly.

"Uh. I don't know how to draw this."

"Yeah, that's essentially what everyone says in this game." Kiba said but was grinning at his phone.

Neji looked down helplessly at his prompt. "Half defrosted caveman lawyer" What the fuck?

When everyone was done, they looked at the screen. Neji's was up first and he scowled at it. It was a terrible picture and he had no doubt no one would correctly guess the title. Once that was done, the title screen came up.

**Lounging in a rock with some paper  
Strange monkey looking man in a tie  
When u workout too hard n u start rethinking ur life  
Half defrosted caveman lawyer  
Fuck me up, fam**

Much to Neji's chagrin, no one guessed the actual prompt. He didn't understand how this game was fun.

***

After a few shots, the game was actually quite fun and Neji was ashamed for even laughing. For art students, some of them couldn't draw for shit.

After the game ended, they played 3 more times and by that point, they were a lot louder than they should've been. Ino sent texts to Hizashi, Gaara, Sai, and essentially everyone just to say hello to them at 1am. In response, she got a picture message from Gaara. He was pouting at the screen and she could visibly see Itachi in the background with his arms crossed and Naruto and Sasuke looked like they were arguing.

Ino took a selfie with Neji who was too relaxed from drinking to yell at her for it. Gaara text her back about pulling up her shirt because her tits were all over god's creation. She thanked him for the compliment on their size. He stopped replying.

Hizashi surprisingly got back to her 20 minutes later and she grinned and text him even though she had no idea what she was saying. She was going to regret this in the morning.

"Spin the bottle~!" Ino declared and grabbed the now empty vodka bottle. They sat in a circle and Ino just started giggling. She gave it to Hinata to spin first and Hinata was tentative about it but spun it anyway. It landed on Kiba.

"Don't you dare." Neji scowled at Kiba and Ino patted Neji on the back.

"S'ok. Just a little kiss." She winked and giggled. Hinata and Kiba kissed very lightly and pulled away, Hinata blushing but not as much as she would've had she been sober. Deidara spun next and he got Kiba too.

"Hey, I'm popular today." Kiba grinned and leaned over to kiss Deidara. Their kiss was unsurprisingly more firm than Hinata's kiss.

"Oooo, me!" Ino spun and it landed on Hinata. "Come here, cutie." She giggled and kissed Hinata chastely. Hinata laughed when the kiss was over. Neji was scowling and he glared at the bottle. There was no level of drunk he could be where he wanted to kiss anyone in this circle. He spun the bottle and it landed on Ino.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Neji said flatly and Ino laughed hysterically. In the end he sucked it up and she leaned over and kissed him. Much to her surprise, he kissed back. Ino pulled away a few seconds later.

"You're a good kisser." She complimented and he frowned at her. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of telling her that she was a good kisser too.

***

Gaara sat at Itachi's house watching Itachi play referee with Naruto and Sasuke. They both drank a bit too much and started arguing about literally nothing. Gaara wanted to bash his head in.

At some point, Lee showed up and hugged Gaara and spun him around the living room. Itachi just watched in slight confusion but Lee was talking a mile a minute and he had no idea what he was talking about. Gaara seemed to know so that's all that mattered.

Lee was extremely happy to see Gaara right now. He hadn't been able to congratulate him in person about the trial. The thought that Rasa was in jail now was just euphoric. Gaara didn't seem as excited as Lee was. In fact, he just looked somber. This had Lee calm himself down and then Gaara and Lee left the room to talk.

Gaara was still depressed. Lee could see it on his face and it made him sad. How could he still be depressed? His father was in jail! He should be happy, right?

"What is wrong?" Lee asked quietly and Gaara shook his head. "Please, Gaara. I would like to know what is wrong so I can further help you fix it."

"There isn't fixing it, Lee. I'm just depressed. That's how it is. I'm on medication and I go to therapy. I started working out in the dojo more, I started trying to talk to people more. Nothing helps. I'm still depressed. You aren't going to change that, so stop." Lee closed his mouth tightly.

"Gaara." He said after a moment of silence. "Maybe I cannot help fix it, but I would like to at least be here for you." 

"You aren't doing a very good job of that lately, are you?" Gaara said calmly and it was like a slap to the face.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Lee asked and Gaara's eyes narrowed at him.

"Yeah, you're all hugs now but where were you any of the days I was in trial?"

"I-I talked to my dad. He told me how you were doing-"

"Yeah, and did you talk to me?" Gaara asked and Lee looked crestfallen. "Yeah. Exactly. You didn't talk to me. No one did. No one but your dads, my lawyer, Naruto and Itachi."

"Not even Ino...?" Gaara frowned.

"She checked in but she figured I would want space. She at least tried. I didn't even get a text from you. But hey, congrats on Neji." Gaara left the kitchen and Lee heard him stomp up the stairs. A few seconds later he heard another person go up the stairs and sighed. At least Itachi could be there for Gaara.

Lee felt terrible. There was a point in time when he would talk to Gaara every day. Even if it was a text. He hadn't spoken to Gaara the week of his trial. Lee was just so preoccupied with finals, he figured Gaara would understand. But Lee was being inconsiderate. Gaara needed a friend in a difficult time in his life, and Lee wasn't there. How could he call Gaara a best friend if he wasn't there when Gaara needed him? Lee ran his fingers through his hair and hoped Neji was doing better with Ino than he was with Gaara. 

***

The next morning, mostly everyone was on the floor. Deidara was the only person that made it to the bed and Ino glared at his sleeping form. The asshole could've woken her up to get in bed too.

She was nursing a massive hangover and she dragged her feet out of the room. She saw a clock that said it was 11am and she squinted at the bright lights outside.

"Good morning, Ino." Ino glanced up and saw Hinata's father, Hiashi. "I heard you guys had fun last night."

"I am so sorry if we were too loud." She apologized.

"Don't be. Why don't you come downstairs and get some coffee?" Ino nodded and followed him to the kitchen. "How do you like your coffee?"

"Black, please." Ino said politely and Hiashi took out a mug, poured the coffee in it and handed her the glass. He opened a cabinet and grabbed some pills and handed her two Advil. She blushed. "Thank you." He nodded and she downed them without any liquid. She sat at the table with him and he was kind enough to give her a few minutes to wake up.

"My brother will be here at 12 for lunch. Do you think everyone will be up by then?" She scoffed.

"I hope so, but probably not. Especially Deidara, he can sleep all day. I can wake them up if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary just yet. In the meantime, you can take a shower." He smirked. "You have makeup all over your face." Ino's face colored. She realized she forgot to take it off last night. She probably looked like a raccoon. She took him up on the shower offer. She had to make sure her hair looked nice. Especially if Hizashi would be there soon.

***

"Are you better?" Itachi whispered in the morning after he felt Gaara stir next to him.

"Yeah. Thanks." Gaara sat up and Itachi watched Gaara as he laid down. Gaara was rubbing the sleep away from his face.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"... I got a little emotional with Lee."

"Why?"

"He irritated me."

"How so?"

"Acting like he was there for me the entire trial. He wasn't."

"You have to see things from both point of views, Gaara." Itachi said quietly.

"What is his point of view?" Gaara asked with a scowl. Looks like he wasn't as over it as he thought he was.

"I don't know his point of view. But you have to be mindful of it. He likely wasn't being malicious." Itachi explained and Gaara sighed with a frown. "You have the right to be angry for a while, but let it go for your own sake." Gaara almost smiled at the words. The same spiel Itachi used on him last year.

"I want to take a shower." Gaara said and left the room and Itachi sighed. He got off the bed and began cleaning the room up. 

Itachi left the room and Sasuke was walking down the stairs as he passed. He quickly followed his little brother, curious to hear about if him and Naruto were okay or not. They sent a lot of mixed signals. He followed Sasuke into the kitchen and Sasuke began making coffee.

"Little brother." Itachi greeted and Sasuke turned to face him tiredly.

"You slept with Gaara last night." Sasuke noted with a hint of curiosity.

"Purely platonic, I assure you." Itachi said and sat down on the chair.

"Why did you guys sleep in the same bed together?" Sasuke asked and Itachi frowned. Since when was Sasuke so interested in his sleeping habits and who he kept in his bed?

"He's been sleeping in my bed since around the time of the trial. He has a lot of nightmares. He can't sleep by himself right now." Itachi admitted quietly and Sasuke frowned.

"Is he doing okay? Naruto told me the trial was tough on him." Sasuke grabbed two mugs and put one in front of Itachi and grabbed the now full coffee pot.

"Sometimes? For the most part he's just stressed out and sad. He doesn't want to be and gets angry that he is. People think he should be better now that his father is in jail but I think he'd prefer if he didn't have to put his father in jail to begin with. He had to face all the abuse his father put him through this month. It was difficult for him. He's not doing very well."

"Yeah, Lee seemed pretty upset about a fight they had..." Sasuke trailed off and looked at the doorway. "Good morning." Itachi turned his head and Lee was standing there looking really upset.

"Is Gaara still angry?" He asked and not wanting to lie to the poor guy, Itachi nodded slowly and Lee sighed and sat down next to Itachi.

"I have really messed up." Lee said quietly.

"Why didn't you talk to him?" Itachi asked and Lee shrugged his shoulders.

"I do not know. I talked to my dad about him the entire time and he said Gaara was okay but he was not talking to anyone and I did not want to bother him. I suppose it was a pretty shitty reason, huh?" He looked at Itachi and Itachi gave a slight nod. Lee put his head down.

"Gaara loves you, he'll forgive you. I know he will." Itachi said calmly. "Just give him time to be angry." Lee nodded pathetically.

***

Lunch time was fun. By that time, Ino was dressed and ready to go. She wore a washed out light blue pair of ripped jeans and a long sleeved thin purple turtleneck that cut off at her midriff. She put her hair up in a messy bun and when she woke up everyone in the room, she was able to be as loud as possible.

They all hated her and she relished in it. 

"It's lunch time~!" She sang happily.

"How are you not miserable right now!?" Kiba groaned.

"Because she's literally satan. Hangovers don't affect her." Neji grumbled, covering his face with a pillow.

"Yeah yeah. Come on, it's lunch time." She said and opened the blinds in the room and made Deidara hiss like a vampire. She felt bad for Hinata but she needed to wake up too. To be fair, Hinata didn't seem too miserable. But she also drank the least. "I'll be downstairs."

Ino went downstairs at the same time that Hizashi walked into the house. He closed the door and looked at her with a smirk.

"Well well, I'm surprised to see you're alive."

"...why?"

"You text me some pretty interesting things last night. I figured you got drunk." Ino actually blushed and took out her phone nervously almost not wanting to read it. 

Turns out she shouldn't have read it.

"I'm sorry." She said awkwardly. "I did get drunk. I mean, honestly I would've said all of this anyway just not... like this. Probably a bit sexier." She laughed and put her phone back in her pocket. "Nice to see you."

"Likewise." He said and she caught him give her a once over.

"You like?"

"Aren't you going to get cold?"

"No. I'm wearing a turtleneck."

"But... your entire stomach is showing." 

"... But I'm wearing a turtleneck." He smirked at her.

"Okay. Sorry. My bad." He took off his coat and hung it up and it was her turn to admire him. She knew he would come from money considering how pompous Neji was but he even dressed classy. Nice slacks, a tucked in shirt with a suit jacket.

"Fancy. Where are you going that you're all dolled up?" She asked and he smiled at her.

"To see you." He said and she really wished she could control the blush in her cheeks. Usually she was so composed! She kind of hated him for that.

"You flatter me." She said and smiled. She walked over and hugged him, likely surprising him since it took a minute for him to hug her back. But when he did, he knew right were to put his arms to make her back curve so she was pressing her body against him. She couldn't believe she was getting flustered and they pulled away and she smiled shyly and left the room feeling dizzy. Maybe flirting with him wasn't such a good idea. She seemed to be losing herself quickly.

***

Lee opened Instagram and was greeted with a picture from Kiba. Kiba, Ino, Hinata, Deidara and even Neji were all in a circle leaning over the camera making faces.

_**BitchesLoveMe** Whoa man, last night was WILD. I don't even remember taking this thing. ^^;; @Hyuuga_Neji, @LavenderSun, @BombAssArt, @iNoEverything_

_**iNoEverything** Yooooo delete this pls. My eyes look like Gaara's.  
 **StudMuffin** I don't see the problem tbh.  
 **BombAssArt** [cry laughing emoji] LOOK AT NEJI. HE LOOKS LIKE HIS SOUL LEFT HIS BODY AND HE EXISTS ON A DIFFERENT PLANE  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** If only I did, then I wouldn't have to suffer with you morons.  
 **iNoEverything** Well you kissed this moron, so...  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN KISS YOU.  
 **LavenderSun** Neji... you did. We played spin the bottle. To be fair, Ino kissed everyone.  
 **iNoEverything** HAHA YEAH I DID.  
 **BombAssArt** I was the best kisser, though.  
 **BitchesLoveMe** Unlikely.  
 **iNoEverything** Unfortunately (For me) I couldn't kiss the best kisser. Can't kiss myself :\  
 **StudMuffin** Ino I can't believe you kissed Neji.  
 **iNoEverything** And I didn't even vomit once. Okay. Maybe once.  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** STOP. TALKING. YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A GOOD KISSER IF IT SMACKED YOU IN THE FACE.  
 **iNoEverything** What a weird thing for your dad to do :\  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** UGHH ENOUGH TALK ABOUT MY DAD.  
 **Hyuuga_Nej** MY PHONE SAYS YOU TAGGED ME IN A PHOTO AND I SWEAR TO GOD IF IT'S ANOTHER PICTURE OF YOU AND MY DAD.  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** GODDAMN IT, INO_

Lee curiously exited out of the comments for the picture and looked on Ino's page to see the photo she posted. It was clearly a picture someone else too candidly. Neji's dad was very clearly checking Ino out in it.

_**iNoEverything** Please, @Hyuuga_Neji, settle down. I'll be your mom soon enough._

_**Hyuuga_Neji** I. DESPISE. YOU.  
 **StudMuffin** Wow, Ino. You found a guy with a bigger age gap than Itachi and I. I'll need to step my game up.  
 **Uchiha_Itachi** You can sit your happy ass right back down.  
 **iNoEverything** [crying emoji] OMG ITACHI I CAN'T.  
 **iNoEverything** Anyway, I can't wait to go on my date with NEJI'S DAD LATER  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** Wait, what?  
 **BitchesLoveMe** Wait you didn't know that?  
 **LavenderSun** No one told you?  
 **BombAssArt** HAHAHAHAHAH YOU DIDN'T KNOW!?!? [cry laughing emoji] Oh my man, Ino is gonna FUCK UR DAD, YEAH.  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** [angry emoji]   
**O.G_RockLee** Do not let her get to you, Neji. She is doing it to annoy you.  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** NO SHIT, LEE  
 **iNoEverything** NO SHIT, LEE!  
 **iNoEverything** eyyyyy #twinning  
 **Hyuuga_Neji** DON'T PULL THAT TWINNING SHIT WITH ME_

***

"Wow." Kiba blinked, looking at Ino. "You look..." He trailed off and Ino smirked. Her dress was relatively low cut but it made her boobs look nice and it was tight on her curves. 

"Like you're going to get laid, yeah." Deidara cut in and Ino rolled her eyes and grabbed her jacket.

"Bye, losers and Hinata. I love you Hinata. Bye everyone else." Ino said and Hinata smiled.

"Good luck on your date!" She said sweetly and Ino walked down the stairs with her coat folded over her arm. It was difficult to walk down stairs in heels but she was managing it so far.

"Wow." She glanced down to see Hizashi waiting for her by the door. "You're..." Ino waited for the obligatory 'sexy' to come out but it didn't. "so beautiful." His eyes were soft and Ino almost tripped herself down the stairs from surprise. "Are you ready to go?" She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "Let's go."

***

"Sasuke, what are we going to do?" Naruto asked and Sasuke sighed. Right now, Naruto was laying his head on Sasuke's chest and they were lying in bed. In all honesty, they should be downstairs with Lee and Itachi. Gaara was nowhere they could find at the moment and Lee was upset about it. Itachi just went with the flow of things and knew eventually Gaara would come out from hiding. For now, Sasuke and Naruto decided they needed time to talk to each other.

"About what?" Sasuke asked and Naruto glanced up at him.

"About us."

"You know I want to be with you, Naruto." Sasuke admitted softly. 

"But, what if it just ends up like last time?" 

"I have less classes now than I did before so it wouldn't be to the level of bad. But I can't promise I can talk to you every day no matter how much I want to. I really do miss you when I'm not able to talk to you. I hope you realize that." Sasuke said and Naruto sighed.

"The problem is I don't know that. You can say it all you want but it'll never fully sink in. I don't know how... I don't understand how someone could miss me when I'm not around, ya know?" The grip Sasuke had on Naruto tightened.

"I always miss you when you aren't around. Even if you're being particularly annoying." Sasuke said and Naruto scoffed. "Naruto, I love you. I told you that before. Yeah, college sucks and it's hard to really talk every day and all but that doesn't mean I care any less. I miss you every day."

"I miss you too... I want to be with you-"

"Then be with me, Naruto. We can be together again. We don't have to stay broken up." Sasuke said and Naruto sighed and sat up, leaning away from Sasuke. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can do it again."

"Naruto..." Sasuke's heart dropped. "Please."

"What if we... dated but not dated?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Like... We're exclusive, but not official? This way... maybe it'll be easier to cope with you not speaking to me every day." Sasuke frowned at that and wanted to argue a point but realized... There was nothing to say. He just agreed, if it was something Naruto needed, he would give it to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dead to the world so thinking of questions will be difficult... uhhh...
> 
> 1) next chapter our two sneaky characters are going to put up mistletoe in Itachi's house. Who are pairs you'd like to be caught under it?  
> 2) Should I write the date with Ino and Hizashi or skip it?  
> 3) Should Ino actually sleep with Hizashi or no? (you know my hoin' ass would write it.)  
> 4) How do you think Gaara and Lee will resolve their issues?


	72. Chapter 72

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ino and Hizashi's date  
> Christmas Eve dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Leah** : You bring up valid points. I agree.  
>  **Vivi** : That is true. You are right.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : unfortunately, they do not sleep together in this chapter. BUT THEY WILL EVENTUALLY.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Yeah, lately it's been less depressing to write Ino since Gaara is emotional right now so I try to even it out with her humor. Plus I love her crew so much. You're right, I don't plan on pulling them apart anytime soon.  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : I'm so glad! I'm putting more people under the mistletoe next chapter. This chapter was just for shits and giggles but it'll get real during the full swing of the party. omg I'm excited for Lee's outfit. I should draw their christmas outfits...  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : It's kind of hard to respond to your comment since you have so many of them lol. But I'll try. I'm happy you're excited for an update, I meant to write this yesterday but I didn't have my laptop. :/ The Lee and Gaara mistletoe kiss will be next chapter since there will be more hype for it. The ones in this chapter were just silly instances. Thank you for your kudos comment, I appreciate it lol. Merry Christmas. Thank you for reading I'll try to use more prompts next chapter. This one was mainly Ino. And yeah, I like the Casey Sam video. It's gorgeous. They have a song called "This Promise" which Lee and Gaara will write together with the help of Itachi much later in the story. You can listen if you'd like, it may give you some spoilers but it'll keep your heart beating for GaaLee! (And prove to you how much of a bro Itachi is.) Don't hate Neji too bad. He's going to turn into a vital character even after him and Lee break up!   
> **Halpmehpls7580** : I know, right? I love them. We may have to wait until after the new year for them to get some. (unless I write super fast which is unlikely since everyone is home and annoying me.) Merry Christmas!  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Thank you darling, you're perfect, never change. Yes, Ino is falling for Hizashi fast and it's so fun to write (I get carried away and write more of her than I do of the main characters. Same in Mama. I just love her, okay??? T_T I hate social gatherings. I'm usually in my room. Thank you! I laughed when I wrote that line, NGL. I did put Neji under the mistletoe this chapter but not with Ino! ;) I would love for Ino to get married and just wake up one day like "wait this isn't what I meant" XD Gaara and Lee will have more to say next chapter about the whole fight and who knows, maybe they'll spar in the middle of the christmas party (And Gaara sees the drunken fist and Lee cries about it and just holds Gaara for 3221 years sobbing and Gaara's like "Lee calm down, you missed")

Chapter Seventy-Two:

Hizashi led Ino to his car by guiding her with his hand on her back. He opened the door for her, let her sit down and closed it gently. 

When he got into the car and started driving, he began to ask her questions about herself. Her favorite, color, animal, movie, food, just random questions to keep the conversation flowing. She asked him to return the favor by answering the same questions. He asked about how school was going and what she wanted to do with her culinary degree. They talked about their favorite music and Ino was grateful that she finally had someone to talk to about country music (her guilty pleasure) but she didn't tell him about her love of rap music (his least favorite type of music but she would get him jamming out to it one day. It was the music she cleaned to, after all).

They talked so much she didn't even realize they'd been driving for a half an hour and into the city. She stared bright eyed at all the lights and smiled. Sure, she only lived two hours away from here when she was at school but she never really had time to drive there.

He parked the car in a lot and apologized that they would have to take the subway the rest of the way since everything was backed up and they had to make their reservation. She just felt fancy that they had a reservation. 

They quickly bought tickets and he checked the map for the proper subway line and led her down more stairs to wait for it. He was holding her waist so she stayed close to him considering she was getting a lot of leers. His expression didn't seem to change, he seemed aloof but she was happy at the protective stance anyway.

When they climbed into the subway she was amazed at how many people were on it. Hizashi grabbed hold of a pole and continued to hold her in place. She smiled up at him and loved that his cheeks turned pink slightly. Oh he was so sweet.

Eventually they got off the subway and went back above ground and walked on the sidewalk. She really wished he told her they'd be walking a lot so she could've worn different shoes, but he held her hand while they walked and she couldn't find it in herself to be angry for too long. 

When they stopped, she looked up and saw where they were eating. It was a high up restaurant that spun very slowly so people could look around and appreciate the beauty of the city. She was so excited. 

***

Sitting at the table proved to be one of the nicest dates she'd ever been on, if not THE nicest date. The outside was beautiful and the colors of the lights of the buildings really lit up Hizashi's face when he looked out of the window. He was honestly more handsome than she even realized before. 

"What are you smiling at?" He asked with a chuckle.

"You're super handsome." She said and felt proud to finally catch him off guard enough to have his cheeks turn red. 

"And you..." he took her hand into his own and kissed it, looking directly in her eyes, "are the most gorgeous woman I've ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on. Thank you for joining me tonight, you've made me a very happy man." Ino's face instantly turned red and she smiled and laughed awkwardly. She hated that he could always make her lose her posture.

At the same time she really liked it. He was unlike anyone she'd ever been on a date with and she wondered why she hadn't went on a date with an older guy before.

_Probably because my dad would murder me..._

"So out of curiosity, what made you ask me out?" Ino asked as she stirred her drink with her straw. 

"Oh." Hizashi colored slightly and she held back a smirk. She loved when he got flustered instead of her. "Well, I thought you were sweet. No one made me pastries before. And you're incredibly beautiful. You hold your own well during our conversations." He smirked a bit. "And Neji told me not to." Ino covered her mouth trying to stifle a laugh.

Yeah, this is her soulmate.

***

After dinner, they went to the streets and walked around slowly. He seemed to be looking for something. She just enjoyed his company as they strolled down the busy streets. It was cold so Ino was hoping he would find what he needed soon. He must've noticed she was cold because next thing she knew he had his jacket draped over.

"Oh you didn't have to-"

"I should've told you that you need to dress warmer." He said with a smile. She pulled the coat over her shoulders more and once it was positioned correctly, she held his hand and watched how it made him smile.

"Here we are." He said a few moments later.

A horse drawn carriage? Ino blinked in surprise. She knew they did those in the city but she never thought she'd actually get a chance to ride one.

"Really?" She asked with some excitement. He smiled.

"Have you ever been?" She shook her head. "Well, if you want we can." She nodded. "Fantastic, let's go."

When they got into the carriage, they were given a blanket and Hizashi put it around their shoulders and pulled Ino close enough that they could overlay over his lap. 

For a half an hour they rode through the city looking at the lights and even though she was cold, she didn't want the date to end. 

She was in awe when they rode close enough to the park to see the Christmas tree with all of its beautiful decorations. She insisted on them taking a selfie and he even took a picture of her by herself on his phone. She started taking silly pictures and they were laughing and she felt drunk off her giggles. She was just so giddy. 

Hizashi was chuckling softly and they stared at each other and slowly the laughter died and he caressed her cheek. Her heart was racing and looking in his lavender eyes she shivered with anticipation. He was so close to her face she could almost taste him. 

"Our ride is done." He whispered against her lips.

"Okay." She whispered back and her eyes glanced down at his lips. Mere inches apart, she wondered if she should make the move to close the distance. 

He didn't let her down. He kissed her and warmth spread through her body at the simple kiss. She was burning with desire. 

It wasn't a rough kiss, it wasn't even a long kiss. Even so it made all the oxygen leave her body and she pulled away breathing deeper than before.

"Let's go." He said and smiled. She nodded meekly and he took her hand and helped her out of the carriage. The snow was really starting to come down.

***

Ino was confused when he pulled up to Hinata's house instead of his own. She looked at him with an expression that portrayed how she felt. Did he not enjoy himself? Why did he take her back to Hinata's house? Was he not interested in her? He smiled at her.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed your company." He said and she nodded slowly. Of course she enjoyed herself. He got out of the car and opened her door for her and held out his hand to help her up. Even after she stood, he held her hand in his own and walked her to the front door and stopped. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to take you out again." The worry disappeared from her face and was replaced with a beautiful smile. He couldn't help but return the smile to her.

"I would love that." Her heart was racing again and her stomach felt strange. "Um, if you're interested, I know Neji is going, but back where I live, we're having a Christmas party and a New Year's party. I would love if you could go, but if you can't, that's okay too."

"I will do my best to make it, for no other reason than to see you." She giggled and twirled her hair. He smiled at the gesture. "Have a good night, Ino."

"You too, Hizashi." She said softly and he gave her a hug and a small kiss on her cheek. Before he pulled away, she turned her head to look at him and their eyes locked again. 

They kissed on the porch while the snow fell around them.

When he pulled away, he gave her a slight laugh.

"What?" Ino asked quietly and he shook his head.

"You just keep taking my breath away." He admitted with a smile. "Goodnight, Ino. I have to go now or I won't leave at all."

"You don't have to..." He smiled.

"I will always have more time. We don't need to rush." He said and she was just impressed that he turned that down. "I'll see you later."

"Text me when you get home safe." She said and he smiled at her again.

"Okay."

Ino watched him get into his car and he waved at her and pulled away. She smiled fondly and tried to compose herself a bit better before she went in looking smitten. That's the last thing she needed to be made fun of for. She saw Gaara tomorrow so she could gush to him about this. No way would she do it in front of Kiba and Deidara. Maybe Neji just to piss him off.

Ino giggled and shook her head and went inside the house where everyone was sitting on the couch.

"Ino! You're back!" Kiba said, surprised.

"Didn't expect you to be home tonight, yeah." Deidara said and continued eating his lollipop. 

"How did the date go?" Hinata asked and Ino smiled.

"It went well. I'm going to get changed." She walked upstairs and heard someone get off the couch and follow her.

"Just well?" Hinata asked and closed the door behind her.

"No. Ohmygod he is amazing." Ino said, her indifferent expression completely fading. 

"What did you two do?"

"He took me to the city and we went to that spinning restaurant and then we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city... I have pictures!" Ino said, pulled out her phone, kicked her shoes off and leaned over to show Hinata. Hinata flicked through the pictures with a smile.

"You look very happy." She commented and Ino nodded with a laugh. She grabbed her rainbow pants and pulled them on and took her dress and bra off. 

"I just wish my boobs didn't feel like they were dying. Jesus I hate bras." Ino mumbled and pulled on a baggy t-shirt and laid on Hinata's bed.

"You don't want to go downstairs?" Hinata asked and Ino shook her head.

"Last thing I need is to be made fun of by Dee and Kiba." She said and Hinata laughed. Ino falling for someone was a reason for them to tease her.

***

"Gaara!" Lee said loudly, his voice cracking.

"What?" Gaara asked without looking up. He was busy rushing around Itachi's kitchen cooking lunch. Ino and everyone else would be there soon and he wanted to make sure food was ready around that time. Sasuke was watching him cook for a while but he left to shower. Naruto and Itachi were playing outside. Gaara would look out of the window every so often to see their snowman progression. Lee wanted to go outside too but he felt terrible.

"I am sorry." He said on the verge of tears. Gaara sighed, he hated when Lee cried.

"Lee, can we not do this right now?" Gaara said with a sigh. "I'm busy."

"Gaara, please." Lee begged and walked into the kitchen more. Gaara looked up at him. Lee kept getting older when he left for college. It was almost like Gaara didn't know him anymore. It was heartbreaking. Lee really was Neji's now. Gaara almost couldn't recognize Lee anymore. 

"Lee..." Gaara sighed and put the knife down. "I'm upset with you. That isn't going to change because you apologized." Gaara said with a hardened edge to it. "But..." He sighed again. "That doesn't mean I don't care about you or I don't love you any less. I'm just upset." Lee nodded and his lower lip was quivering. "Come here." Gaara said and hugged Lee and Lee squeezed Gaara and lifted him off the ground. Gaara couldn't stop the chuckle he let out and Lee smiled. 

"You really still love me even after I hurt you?" Lee asked after he put Gaara down.

"I've loved you through more difficult things, Lee." Gaara responded blankly and Lee smiled awkwardly.

"Well... I am glad. I love you too." Lee said and rubbed his eyes.

"Just go play outside. I know you want to."

"But you are all alone-"

"Lee go play outside." The demanding in Gaara's voice was hysterical for something so simple as Lee needing to go play.

"If you need me, yell for me, okay?" Gaara nodded and picked his knife back up and Lee left the kitchen.

It was nice to be alone in the kitchen. Gaara would turn on his music and sing to himself. It was peaceful. He was mostly done with lunch preparations when Sasuke came back into the kitchen. It always made Gaara smirk when he cooked and Sasuke found a reason to be in the kitchen. He would always act like it wasn't because he wanted to watch what Gaara did but he would be so focused on Gaara doing things people could talk to him and he wouldn't realize. Sasuke also had a tendency to ask questions about what Gaara did to the point where it was obvious he wasn't NOT watching Gaara.

Gaara thought it was sweet that he wanted to learn how to cook but didn't know how to ask so he just made it seem like he just happened to be watching at the only time Gaara was doing something in order to come up with the question. Maybe one day he would just ask to cook with Gaara.

"How was your shower?" Gaara asked and started to sauté the onions and garlic.

"It was nice. What did I miss?" That was the closest Sasuke ever came to actually admitting he watched Gaara in the kitchen.

"Not much. Just cut up all the vegetables." Gaara said and flipped the onions in the pan by shaking it back and forth. Sasuke watched in interest. He was also slightly put out he missed watching Gaara cut up the vegetables since that was one of his favorite things to watch. 

Today, instead of watching from the barstool at the island counter, Sasuke actually walked behind the counter to watch Gaara at the stove. Gaara hid his smirk.

"Do you like to cook, Sasuke?" Gaara asked and Sasuke was just amazed that Gaara had 4 things going on the stove yet somehow managed to handle everything easily, even with something in the oven too.

"Uh, I don't know how." Sasuke admitted truthfully since he was too distracted to come up with a lie. He never cared to learn how to cook but each time he was in the kitchen when Gaara made something, it just seemed to look so fun. 

"Would you like to learn?" Sasuke blinked and turned to Gaara but Gaara didn't look at him. He was still too preoccupied with the stove. 

"Yes." Sasuke answered and Gaara glanced at him briefly with a nod.

"I'll teach you, if you'd like." Sasuke bit back a smile and nodded.

"Thank you."

***

The lunch spread was beautiful and Sasuke and Itachi set the table nicely. Ino's gang got there shortly after Gaara finished cooking and everyone sat down and enjoyed themselves. Itachi was always surprised when Gaara would clear the table and clean the dishes after he spent so much time cooking. Ino insisted that Gaara enjoyed doing the dishes for whatever reason and it proved to be true when Gaara would get irritated at Itachi each time for trying to do the dishes. Eventually Itachi learned the things Gaara didn't like to do and did those instead. Like packing away leftovers. For whatever reason, Gaara hated that. So did Ino. He guessed it was a culinary thing, he wasn't sure. He also didn't think Deidara would be as helpful as he was.

It was nice to have the whole gang back together. Itachi was growing more annoyed with himself for not having friends closer to his own age but all of his buddies from work were much too stiff. Or maybe that was because Itachi was the boss. He wasn't sure. One day he would make friends that were older than 20.

After everything was cleaned, Gaara and Ino sat at the island on the barstools and they were writing a list.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.

"We're creating the Christmas menu." Ino said easily. "If there's one thing Gaara and I like it's our lists.

"What are you making?" Sasuke asked and sat on Gaara's other side. Ino was surprised Gaara actually spoke and explained each dish to Sasuke and more so that Sasuke looked interested. He normally only watched them work in the kitchen. She hid her smile and wondered if Sasuke wanted to do something like make Naruto dinner one day.

Lee, Kiba, Itachi, Naruto and Neji were outside deep in a snowball fight. It was every man for themselves and Deidara and Hinata watched from the porch and quietly bet on who they thought would win. 

Suddenly, an idea struck Hinata and she looked at Deidara with The Look™ and Deidara grinned at her.

"What do you have stewing in that brilliant mind of yours, Hinata?" She looked at him.

"I brought some mistletoe with me..." His grin copied her and they quickly went inside to strategically place mistletoe around the house.

***

Somehow they were able to rig certain lights so that when someone stepped in the doorway with the mistletoe in the living room, the doorway would light up and a loud noise went off. That would be prefect for people who wanted to pretend they didn't step under the mistletoe, with everyone looking, they would HAVE to.

Hinata and Deidara looked at their work proudly and decided to string more pieces of mistletoe around randomly just to keep everyone on their toes.

"What are you guys doing?" Ino asked and they paused and smiled innocently. "Whatever. Me, Gaara and Sasuke are going to the store. Need anything?"

"What st-"

"I'm not buying you fireworks." Ino cut him off and Gaara walked into the room.

"Gaara, my man-"

"Gaara isn't buying you fireworks either." Deidara sighed and slouched. "Bye! We'll be back soon!"

***

The next day was Christmas Eve which was the day they were having dinner since Itachi had a Christmas party every year. They could have had this dinner catered, but Itachi wasn't complaining that Gaara preferred to cook. He liked everything Gaara cooked so he really didn't mind.

Itachi thought it was hysterical to see his brother in the kitchen since the early morning. They even got him in an apron. Itachi took so many candid pictures of it, he couldn't stop himself from laughing. Sasuke kept giving him a look but Gaara and Ino were so immersed in cooking they didn't even notice him there.

Gaara was surprisingly calm for someone who had to cook a Christmas dinner and teach someone how to cook at the same time. Sasuke was a quick learner which was nice. And he could ask Ino for help too. She was working on croissants after laughing at Gaara's scowl when he read she put that on the menu. 

Even though it was relatively early, most everyone was awake except for Naruto and Kiba. Deidara and Hinata continued to bro it up as they helped decorate the house with Itachi once he was done taking pictures of Sasuke in an apron. It was only funny because he was wearing one of Ino's aprons since Gaara only had one. Gaara's apron was a simple black apron, Ino's apron was a frilly purple one with flower pockets and Sasuke's was only slightly girly since it was pink. It was cute though and he would prefer wearing it to getting food on his clothes.

Neji and Lee sat outside on the porch drinking coffee looking at the snowy hills that coated the Uchiha compound. The garden looked beautiful and it completely covered the gazebo. They had a blanket on their laps and they didn't really talk but they enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning.

"Are you happy to be back?" Neji asked and Lee nodded.

"I have been coming to Itachi's house since I was about 9 years old and it always made me so amazed. It is like a second home." Neji nodded.

"How are you and Gaara?" He asked and Lee shrugged. "Did you talk?

"Yes we did and we seem to be okay but I do not know for sure. He was very upset with me. I believe we made up though. He does not seem to be so angry with me today." Neji nodded and breathed in the fresh air. "So how was your kiss with Ino?" Lee asked with a grin and Neji's expression darkened.

"I trusted you, Lee." He grumbled and Lee laughed joyfully.

"I am sorry! It is just funny! It seems I am the only person who has not kissed Ino."

"Gaara kissed her?"

"Yeah, during a game of Suck and Blow." Neji looked at him scandalized.

"What kind of games do you people play at these parties?" Lee just continued to laugh, thinking back on all the strange games they've played over the year.

***

Christmas Eve dinner was beautifully presented. Ino worked hard to make sure everything was in a nice bowl and that everything matched. Deidara and Hinata helped set the table and when Ino and Deidara stepped out of the room to grab the bag of fancy napkins they bought, the doorway lit up and made a loud popping noise.

"What the fuck?" Ino glanced up and saw the mistletoe. "You're shitting me, right?"

"Who would have thought I would fall victim of my own prank first?" He asked with a grumble. Ino rolled her eyes and kissed Deidara and Neji walked in and just stared awkwardly.

"Fucking mistletoe." Ino said and stalked off.

"Remind me not to walk under there." Neji said with a frown and Deidara shook his head.

"I can't even remember myself, un." He said and continued getting ready.

Kakashi and Guy arrived first with an arm full of gifts and put them under the tree. Temari and Kankuro were next. They both tackled Gaara in a hug and kissed his cheeks just to annoy him and he sat there with a scowl on his face.

Since Kakashi and Guy witnessed it, they also hugged Gaara and kissed both of his cheeks and Gaara groaned.

"Oh, are we kissing Gaara now?" Lee asked as he walked in.

"No. Please for the love of-" He was cut off by a hug from Ino and Lee and they both kissed his cheek and he whined pathetically. "Leave me alone..."

"Sasuke, it's our turn." Itachi said and Gaara shook his head and Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Come on, someone has to kiss his cheek with me." And that's how Gaara got kissed for the 4th time, this time with Itachi and Deidara.

***

The next people to have to kiss under the mistletoe was Gaara and Neji. Both of them paused when the lights went off and the loud pop was made and everyone in both the living room and dining room turned to them. Gaara glanced up and saw the mistletoe and his expression turned murderous. Neji just smacked his face, irritated that he forgot about the mistletoe in just under two hours.

"Who the hell put this here?" He asked and Deidara quickly averted his gaze and covered his face with his hand. Hinata did the same.

"You gotta kiss now!" Ino yelled and whooped. "We're practically eskimo siblings!"

"Eskimo siblings?"

"It means you both had sex with the same person." Kakashi said simply from the couch as he read a book.

"Ino!" Gaara shouted and she smiled.

"I said practically for a reason. Eyyy this means I've kissed everyone Lee kissed." She said and Lee blinked and turned to her with a confused expression.

"You kissed Sakura?" He asked and she paused.

"Wait, you didn't know?"

"Ino!?"

"We were drunk!" Ino said, as if that made it better. "Anyway, go on Gaara. Kiss Neji." Gaara grimaced and turned to Neji but they looked at each other and took in a deep breath and kissed. 

Lee did not want to admit the funny feelings that made him have. Ino was staring at Lee with a smirk and Lee's face turned red and he looked down at his fingers. Neji pulled away and quickly fled the room in embarrassment and Lee stood up from the table to go talk to him. For whatever reason, Gaara didn't move from the doorway as he argued with Ino. This caused the pop to go off again and he turned to see Itachi in the doorway with him.

"What the fuck?" Itachi looked up. "When did that get there?" He genuinely looked confused.

"Where have you been for the past 5 minutes?" Gaara asked and Itachi frowned. 

"I was setting up the basement for the party with Naruto and Sasuke." He said and poked the mistletoe. "Who put this up in my house anyway?"

"Itachi, my man..." Deidara began then ran out of the room like a bat out of hell. Hinata ran after him with a giggle and Ino rolled her eyes.

"I swear, I destroyed that child." She said and stood up and followed the two of them.

"We don't have to kiss..." Itachi said awkwardly.

"Yeah you do. Tradition." Kakashi said from the couch as he continued reading. Gaara rolled his eyes and pulled Itachi down and they kissed.

Itachi really wished that he could say he didn't feel anything. But he did.

Gaara pulled away and looked at Itachi and Itachi smiled at him.

"I should... really... help you clean." Itachi said suddenly and pulled away and started clearing off the table. Gaara looked a bit embarrassed and followed after Itachi and started the clean up process.

He would need a Christmas miracle to get through the rest of the week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) yasss bitch. How was the date? Magical enough?  
> 2) How sweet was Gaara and Ino teaching Sasuke how to cook. I die.  
> 3) Itachi's new love interest should come in the story come the new year, is anyone pumped?  
> 4) What dynamic between two characters do you hope NEVER changes?
> 
> Stay tuned on my Tumblr page, I plan to draw out their holiday outfits! Thanks for reading!


	73. Chapter 73

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas Eve night  
> Christmas Day  
> Christmas Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Vivi** : I know! I love them. I put more of Sasuke in the kitchen because I have fun. Neji and Ino are the best frenemies.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Thank you! I really ship them too and idk what I did to myself. I keep doing this lmao. Kakashi is life. I love him.  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : I hope you enjoy this chapter. Theres something here I think you'll like very much.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Thank you!  
>  **Lollipopgang71** :I should've had the magic carpet show up--OH MY GOD THAT SHOULD BE THEIR DISNEY MOVIE. Or wait. Tangled? Ino reminds me of Rapunzel... Anyhoo. Me too, I love Sasuke cooking. It's sweet. I'm excited too! It will be in at least the next 5 chapters I think. Thank you for your kind words dearie ;) It is my story and if Neji and Gaara fuck, and murder Lee y'all will have to just get over it. (I totally meant to put the wedding renewal in this chapter but forgot. I'll put it in next chapter! Remind me!)  
>  **MirSama** : Thank you and so am I!

Chapter Seventy-Three:

Before going to bed on Christmas night, the gang was in the kitchen annoying Gaara as he tried to teach them how to make cookies. Ino decided they'd be making chocolate chip and sugar since she hated eating gingerbread. Itachi was okay with that since he was Santa. 

They decided last year they would choose someone the next year to get up and put all the presents under the tree like Santa Claus would and since they assumed they'd be at Itachi's house, they said he could have the honors. He didn't mind since that meant he got dibs on the cookies. 

Ino went through the process of making the dough for the sugar cookies and rolled it out and told people to pick shapes they wanted. Gaara took the bucket from work so there were more random shapes than he knew about that he never used. Everyone took their own cookie cutter and Ino declared it would be their shape for as long as they came here on Christmas and they would refer to their gifts as this shape and it would be a part of them forever (she was a bit extra) but it got everyone to choose their shapes carefully. Gaara then amended that rule and said whomever was standing to your right picked out your shape which made it even more fun.

Itachi- the shape of the dead person tape on the floor at a crime scene  
Sasuke- the poop emoji  
Naruto- two figures having sex  
Gaara- a ghost ("Cause you're my BOO" –Ino)  
Ino- a penis (she laughed way too hard at this)  
Neji- a crown  
Lee- a kicking shaped person  
Deidara- bird  
Hinata- tiara  
Kiba- a cat giving the finger

"Okay seriously what the fuck?" Kiba said, looking at his cookie cutter. "You said you brought these from work?"

"Yes." Gaara said, smirking slightly.

"What a random assortment of cookie cutters for a work place to have." Hinata commented.

"We did a bachelorette party a while back." She said waving the penis cutter back and forth. 

"Is that what this one is for too?" Sasuke asked holding up Naruto's and Naruto was still laughing at it.

"Okay but why do you have the outline of a dead body?" Itachi asked, frowning and holding his own up.

"I don't know. Ask Temari." Gaara said and smiled at his. He liked his shape, he would've picked the same one. He just wished he could've picked Ino's but he might've given her the same as Neji, honestly. (What's honestly the difference between a best friend and a frienemy?)

They all cut their cookies and Gaara went through making a big batch of royal icing to put on the cookies. Him and Ino dyed a bunch of different colors and put them in the cornets they made and set them along the table. 

While everyone frosted their cookies, Ino and Gaara made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and scooped them with #20 scoop and threw those in the oven too.

"Deidara, why is yours just white? You'd think you would put more care into it since you're an art student."

"Art isn't color!" Deidara argued. "Art is an explosion" He said and threw his cookie in the air and it exploded and the crumbs went everywhere. Everyone stopped decorating and looked at his crazed grin as he eyed the remnants on the ground.

"Deidara, what the fuck?" Itachi said with an irritated tone. "What did I tell you about shit exploding in my kitchen?"

"It's art, damn it!" Deidara yelled and Ino blinked.

"But... how?" Everyone looked at their cookies, now wary of explosives.

Once everyone got back to decorating, Naruto giggled gleefully and showed Sasuke his cookie.

"Look, Sasuke! It's us!" He said and Sasuke's face burned. 

"I like mine very much." Ino said and showed Neji. All it said was NEJI'S DAD.

"Oh, come on! You know his name!" Neji said with an irritated expression and Ino giggled.

"Yes but this way was bound to annoy you more."

"Is he coming tomorrow?" Gaara asked and suddenly Ino was shier than before.

"Uh, I don't actually know. I invited him, but who knows?" 

"You invited my father?" Neji groaned. "Why must you do this?"

"Because your father is the love of my life and I'm going to marry him and give you brothers." Ino said seriously as she ate the NEJI'S DAD penis cookie, staring him down.

"That is the grossest thing I've ever heard." Neji said with his face twisted with repulsion. Ino giggled.

Once they were done with their cookies, Gaara put them all on a tray for the icing to harden and left them on the counter along with the big pile of cookies. He pulled out a rather large piece of paper and Ino grabbed her markers. Everyone watched curiously as they set everything up and passed everyone a marker.

"Itachi get out of the kitchen." Gaara said and Itachi frowned. "We're writing to Santa." Itachi rolled his eyes and everyone grabbed their marker. 

"Okay everyone, write to Itachi Claus and tell him what you want for Christmas." Ino said and everyone leaned in and started to write on the paper. Most were giggling at what they were saying.

Once they were done, Gaara grabbed a plate and everyone chose a cookie to leave out for Itachi Claus and Gaara poured a glass of milk and put the plate and cup in the center of the paper and everyone left the kitchen. 

They all went to the tree where Itachi was waiting. He pulled out a gift for everyone and they all opened their Christmas Eve gift which consisted of pajamas. It was a secret Santa prompt. They were given a name of someone and had to buy them pajamas. 

Itachi's was from Ino. Red and black plaid pants with a white shirt with red writing that said "BITCH BETTER HAVE MY COOKIES".  
Ino's was from Hinata. A night shirt that said "DEAR SANTA, [ ]Nice [ ]Naughty [X] I tried"  
Hinata's was from Sasuke. It was a sleep Tee that said "BEEN AN ANGEL ALL YEAR" (Hinata giggled since she knew it was from Victoria's Secret)  
Sasuke's was from Naruto. It was elf footsie pajamas. Sasuke glared at Naruto so hard and Naruto smiled happily.  
Naruto's was from Kiba. They were also footsie pajamas. Blue with snowflakes all over it.  
Kiba's was from Deidara. Green pants, a red shirt with the writing "Santa, I can explain"  
Deidara's was from Gaara. A button up shirt pajama set, on the butt of the pants it said "Santa, stop judging me".  
Gaara's was from Itachi. A light blue shirt with dark blue pants that said "Santa's Fave" and when he looked up, Itachi winked at him.

Once everyone got changed into their Christmas Eve pajamas, it was time to watch a movie and go to sleep. Itachi got to pick the movie since he was Santa this year and he picked Die Hard since Alan Rickman was in it and he wanted to see Gaara get excited about it.

The entire movie, Gaara yelled at people if they spoke while Alan Rickman was on screen.

***

Itachi woke up at 3 in the morning from his alarm. He grumbled and rubbed his face. Gaara was cuddled up to his side and he smiled at him and looked around at the living room floor. Everyone was dead asleep. He took out his phone and shut off the vibrating alarm he set and quickly got to work. 

Since he didn't want to eat cookies this late, he put the ones left for him in a Ziploc bag and put them on top of the fridge and took a bite of one of the cookies and left it on the plate. He then read the note he was left with a smile. He grabbed a marker and wrote in the center, which was left blank for whatever reason, and wrote 

**I saw your Instagrams. You're getting clothes and a bible for Christmas. -Santa**

Once he finished reading, he ran to the closet where he put the gifts everyone gave him to hide and started the tedious job of moving all the boxes to under the tree. After he finished that, he grabbed a large bag, something he bought for everyone. He walked to the wall by the tree where the stockings everyone made earlier that day hung up. He had a hard time deciphering who was who which was why he was thankful the stocking stuffers were interchangeable. He stuffed everyone's stocking and finished with his task around 3:45. With a smile, he went back to sleep next to Gaara.

***

Gaara woke up first at 5 and stretched. He looked at Ino sleeping a few feet away and crawled over to her and shook her awake. She grumbled but opened her eyes and looked at her best friend.

"Breakfast?" She asked with a raspy voice. He nodded. "Should we wake Sasuke?" Gaara shrugged and the two crawled over to Sasuke's sleeping form and shook him. He woke easily and looked up at them. "We're making breakfast. Did you want to join?" She whispered and he nodded and they all stood up and went into the kitchen. Ino put her hair in a bun as she walked and Sasuke walked and grabbed their aprons and handed it to them. Ino was reading Itachi's note with a grin and laughed. She picked up the note and moved it to the other room so they had the island space again.

Sasuke started to brew coffee while Ino and Gaara looked at their list of what to make. Gaara wrote initials next to who would make each item. 

(G,S)Pancakes  
(I)Bacon  
(I)Eggs  
(S,I)Hash Browns  
(S)Fried Apples  
(I)Scones  
(G)Cinnamon Rolls (Proofing in oven)  
(S,G)Fruit Salad

"Alright, Sasuke, you're going to be practicing cutting today." Gaara said and pulled out his chef knife and honer and made sure the blade was sharp enough. He cleaned it off and handed the knife to Sasuke as Ino grabbed all the ingredients from the fridge for the hash browns. "As you do that I'm going to show you step by step how to make buttermilk pancakes." Sasuke nodded.

They all stopped to drink some coffee and Gaara was amazed that Ino drank two black cups of coffee before he drank one. After that they set to work.

"Like this?" Sasuke asked and Ino smiled.

"Yeah, just adjust your knife grip a bit." She said and Sasuke looked to her confused. "You're pinching the knife, which is right, but you're pinching the handle, not the blade. Grabbing the knife by the blade will give you better control."

"But it hurts my pointer finger." He said and Ino and Gaara held up their hands to show a callous where Sasuke was getting a blister.

"You'll adapt." Gaara said and sifted the flour while he waited for the oven to preheat, thanking gods that he remembered to pre-make the cinnamon rolls yesterday.

Sasuke did well with cutting the potatoes, but once he got to the fruit he was confused. Ino didn't want to touch any of the fruit since she was in the middle of peeling garlic, so Gaara stopped what he was doing to show Sasuke how to properly cut a pineapple.

"Wait, why did you cut out the center?" Sasuke asked and Gaara picked up a piece of the side and held Sasuke the center piece.

"Squeeze it." He said and Sasuke did and frowned.

"Why is it hard?"

"It's the pit. You can still use it but it's better to blend it or cook with it or some shit." Ino said as she rubbed her soapy hands against the sink.

"Why are you molesting the sink?" Sasuke asked and she snorted.

"I'm getting rid of the garlic smell, silly." Ino said with a laugh.

"Stainless steel neutralizes the smell of the garlic and gets rid of it. Just wash your hands with stainless steel and they won't smell anymore." Gaara said and Sasuke looked impressed. Once Ino was done she held her hands up to Sasuke's nose and he sniffed them and they smelled like soap.

"I didn't know that." Sasuke said and Ino smiled at him.

When they were halfway through cooking, Gaara called Kakashi and Guy and told them breakfast would be ready soon. Guy happily informed Gaara they would be over soon.

They were mostly done with breakfast and now just setting the table when people started to wake up. Naturally, Itachi was the first one awake. He walked into the kitchen with a tired smile.

"Smells great in here." He complimented and Ino winked at him. 

"I know. I cooked." Gaara frowned at her. "Yup, all me."

"Can you wake everyone up? I don't like eating cold food." Gaara said and Itachi nodded. He walked into the living room and Gaara didn't hear him at all so wondered if he was kicking them awake. It wasn't until the speaker was suddenly blaring "Santa Baby" that he realized what Itachi was doing. There was a loud noise of protest and Itachi just said "Breakfast!" loudly and that was enough to shut them up.

As they piled into the dining room, there was a knock at the door and Ino let Guy and Kakashi in. They were holding bags and put presents under the tree and joined everyone at the table for breakfast.

They kept the music on and everyone sat at the table. Hinata walked around with the coffee pot and gave everyone coffee before she sat down and they all wished each other a Merry Christmas and dug in.

Breakfast was filled with laughter and fun stories of the year they had. Neji watched everything with amusement. He wondered how Lee put up with all of this before, now he understood. It was just a nice environment to be in. Everyone seemed to like one another and there wasn't a lull in the conversation. Neji smiled at Lee and Lee grinned back. Lee continued to banter with Naruto from across the table and Neji's eyes fell on Gaara. He was happy, yeah. But there was something in his eyes that wasn't quite right. Something was wrong. Neji wondered if it had something to do with Lee. Lee said they were fine but he also said Gaara was extremely upset so he doubted he was 100% okay. Neji felt his lips purse. He decided to make it a mission of his to make sure the two of them were completely okay before the week was up. As jealous as Neji could be of Gaara, he understood how important both of them were in each other's lives. That was more important than jealousy.

Since Sasuke, Ino and Gaara cleaned, they were told to stay seated. Hinata, Deidara and Lee jumped up to start cleaning and Neji quickly scrambled up to help the three. He didn't want anyone to think he wasn't helpful, especially since he was pretty much the odd one out. 

Kakashi, Guy, Itachi and Naruto eventually stood up after they were done with their conversations and Ino sat with a smug smile as they cleaned around her. She held Gaara's hand so he wouldn't stand up and start cleaning and she knew how irritated he was getting that someone else was doing the dishes.

"What if they're doing them wrong?" Gaara asked with a frown and Ino giggled.

"Hinata can wash dishes, so can Lee, Neji, Kakashi and Itachi."

"What about Naruto, Guy and Kiba?" Sasuke asked and Ino rolled her eyes.

"I stand by what I said." With that they all left the room and watched how everyone scrambled to clean the kitchen while they watched.

Everything was spotless a half an hour later and after that they went into the living room and Itachi sat at the tree. He picked up gifts and then would throw them at the respective recipient. It took 7 minutes for everyone to have a small pile by their feet and after that they grabbed their stockings. Itachi was surprised to see his was full. He grabbed it with a smile and looked through it. Everyone had got him Gaston merchandise. He laughed as he looked through his stocking. He loved it. Everyone thanked Itachi for their stocking and set out to open their gifts.

"A potato!" Ino said loudly. "I wonder who got me that!" She said and looked at Neji. He frowned.

"I got you broccoli. Someone else must've given you a potato." He said calmly and went back to opening his gifts. "A piece of broccoli??"

"Great minds think alike, and apparently so do we." Ino said with smirk and he scowled at her.

"I hate this. Who did this?" Sasuke said and held out a tiny sculpture of baby Jesus.

"I figured you needed Jesus in your life." Itachi said simply and Sasuke threw the figurine at Itachi and Itachi caught it easily and Sasuke pouted.

When Gaara opened his gift from Lee, he chuckled. Lee got him a Beauty and the Beast ornament. He looked at Lee as Lee opened his own gift. It was the enchanted rose and it was rigged with lights. It made for a great nightlight.

"Gaara! I love it!" Lee said with a smile. Itachi opened a shirt someone got him. It said "Gaston's Gym" and Gaston was making a muscle. Gaara also got a shirt with Belle on it like the Starbucks logo and it said "Belle's Book Café". He smiled.

From Ino, Gaara got really ugly rainbow pajamas, a shirt with her face on it and a huge picture collage with pictures of them all over it. In return, he got her a gift set from Lush, a box of condoms, and an Aquaman snuggie.

All the teens (and Itachi) got the same box. They opened them and it was a necklace with a pizza slice charm with another charm that had their initial on it. No one knew who got them all this necklace but everyone put theirs on anyway. Even cooler, it looked to be a custom made necklace made from clay so everyone had the slice designed to be their favorite type of pizza. Ino smiled happily at her Margarita pizza and now Gaara really wanted to eat Chicken, Bacon, Ranch pizza.

Kakashi opened his gifts with Guy and they were a bunch of cute things to give to your dad, even cuter, some things were from Gaara. They hugged their sons and before Guy could give Kakashi his final gift, Kakashi handed Gaara their present to him. Gaara looked at the present curiously.

"You already got me something." He said softly and opened his gift. Everyone watched and Ino pulled out her phone and started recording and Kakashi smiled. Itachi also started to record from Gaara's other side and Gaara grew curious. Under the paper, there was a box that usually contained clothing. He removed the top part of the box and saw a stack of papers. He pushed his brow together and picked up the papers and read the top intently. His eyes widened just reading the top of it and he read even further and there was a noticeable tremble in his hands. He looked up at them. "Really?" He whispered and they nodded. Gaara covered his mouth and tears sprung to his eyes and he read the paper again and sniffled. Ino teared up and Lee was full on crying. 

Gaara put the "CERTIFICATE OF ADOPTION" on the ground and quickly made his way to Guy and Kakashi and hugged them. Guy was sobbing and picked up Gaara and shook him back and forth.

"Oh Gaara! We are so blessed to have you join our most cool and hip family!" Guy announced and Kakashi smiled despite having tears in his eyes too.

Their family felt complete. It was a nice feeling.

***

Everyone was upstairs getting ready in different rooms while the living room was being turned into the normal party room. Itachi hired workers since he did every year and no one really minded since they were able to get ready without a hassle. 

Gaara was downstairs in the hallway no one really went down. It was to the piano room. He stood in the doorway and just stared into the room with a wistful smile thinking about how the year progressed. Next week would be the anniversary of his and Itachi's first kiss. He'd been going to Itachi's house for over a year for piano lessons. Everything was so strange. Gaara didn't know how he felt right now. It was a weird sense of numbness at the same time of emotion. He couldn't place the emotions he was feeling, just that they overwhelmed him.

"Gaara." Lee said softly and stood next to him. "I have been looking for you."

"Hello, Lee." Gaara said simply and continued to stare at the piano.

"Merry Christmas." Lee said and Gaara nodded.

"Merry Christmas." Gaara responded and heard Lee sigh. Gaara didn't want to talk to Lee right now. He didn't know what he felt but it wasn't right. He didn't feel okay. He glanced at Lee and since Lee was taller, he had to look up. Since he looked up, he saw the mistletoe in the doorframe. He continued to stare at it until it drew Lee's attention and Lee's face heated up instantly.

"O-Oh. I am sorry." Lee said nervously and bit his lip.

"You don't have to kiss me, Lee." Gaara said easily and Lee shook his head.

"No, I have to. It is a tradition."

"What about Neji?"

"He kissed you too." Lee said with a small grin. Gaara let out a small airy chuckle and turned his head to Lee. Lee leaned in and Gaara felt his breath on his face. Lee was so warm. He couldn't help himself, he leaned up into the kiss and their lips pressed together. 

Gaara didn't want to say that it felt like his heart was jumpstarted with electricity. He didn't want to say it felt like each nerve was woken up individually by the sheer spark fluttering through his body in one fell swoop. He didn't want to say he grabbed onto Lee's shirt as an anchor to keep his knees from buckling. He didn't want to say anything because he didn't want any of it to be admitted to himself.

Lee was falling for Neji, he knew he was. In a way he was getting over Gaara day by day. The kiss changed that. It reminded him of what he didn't have. It showed him no matter how long he spent away from Gaara or how they fought, his body would only feel this way by a kiss from Gaara. Kissing Neji was different, he liked it. But kissing Gaara was on a completely different level. With each pound of his heart, he felt the love and desire he had for Gaara circulate through his body. He couldn't handle this. His head felt heavy.

For whatever reason, Lee took a step forward and they were in the piano room, out of the hallway, out of the eyesight of anyone who looked for them. Gaara wrapped his arms around Lee's neck and Lee pushed him against the wall and Gaara whined against his lips and Lee licked Gaara's lip and nibbled on it.

They didn't make-out for longer than a minute before realization dawned on them and they pushed apart from each other panting heavily. Lee was mortified and Gaara just stared at him wide eyed and fled the room. Lee ran his fingers through his hair in desperation. Why couldn't he control himself when it came to Gaara? His body was pulsing and he couldn't think straight. He sat on the ground and crossed his legs and covered his face in shame, willing his erection to go away.

***

"Ino." Gaara sought out his best friend until he finally found her. Her and Hinata were getting dressed in the same room. At this point, Hinata was completely clothed but Ino was still in her underwear. Hinata was surprised when Ino didn't freak out at Gaara walking in the room. Even more so surprised when not only did Gaara seem to not care, but he also didn't check her out.

"Yes, boo?" She looked up at him. "What happened?" She asked and saw the redness in his face. He was upset. "Hinata, my dear, can you give us a second?" Ino asked and Hinata nodded and left the room with her makeup bag. "What happened?" She asked quietly.

"Lee and I got caught under mistletoe." Gaara said with the same volume level.

"You two kissed?" Gaara blushed.

"We kissed a lot." He admitted shamefully. "For like a minute."

"Okay, you made out for a minute, that isn't so bad? I mean you didn't like fuck him. Even then I still would say that isn't so bad."

"Ino."

"What? I really don't like Neji." She said with a pout. 

"I'm freaking out." Gaara said and ran his fingers through his hair. "I thought this wouldn't be a big deal but now I realize I still have these feelings for him and I don't know what to do."

"Well, sweetheart, I love you. But you shouldn't date anyone right now." Ino said honestly. "I know you and if you do date someone you'll be upset with yourself later on for not taking time for yourself. But I can totally help you make Neji's life terrible." She smiled and Gaara rolled his eyes and fought his own smile.

***

The party started an hour ago and the teens found themselves downstairs in the basement drinking beer and wine coolers. Gaara was sitting way too close to Ino and Neji was essentially on Lee's lap. Gaara tried his best not to let it bother him. For a while it worked. He thinks one of the things that set him off was watching Neji drink from Lee's wine cooler. That was his thing with Lee.

Itachi walked downstairs smiling and held a bottle of ice wine and sat on Gaara's other side. He watched as Deidara and Kiba played on the air hockey table and cursed each other out. Sasuke and Naruto were wrestling in their nice Christmas clothes on the hard floor like cavemen. Hinata was sitting next to Ino and on the couch Lee sat with Neji. It seemed super boring right now.

"Don't you guys play games?" Itachi asked and Gaara shrugged. Itachi opened the wine for him and Gaara grabbed the bottle and drank it straight from there and passed it to Hinata. Itachi smiled at them and shook his head.

"We do but no one is drunk enough to play any game I suggest." Ino said and scanned her nails. She was growing impatient. Hizashi hadn't gotten back to her yet so she was annoyed. She didn't know if he was coming or not. She already apologized to Gaara about the potentiality of Hizashi coming and said she didn't mean to abandon him but she likely would. Gaara just rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Who wants to get fucked up and play Kings?" Ino announced, holding a deck of cards. Sasuke helped Naruto up and they started to join the circle. Soon everyone was in the circle and Sasuke grabbed a shot glass from... somewhere and she filled it with peppermint vodka. 

"I'll go first." Deidara said smiling. He picked up a card. "Oh, a king, un. Okay... A rule... Alright, every time you are forced to drink, you have to compliment me." He said with a smirk and Ino frowned.

"Come on, that was going to be my rule, you suck." She said and he stuck his tongue out at her. Hinata drew the next card. It was an eight.

"You have to pick Naruto." Sasuke said instantly. Naruto looked horrified.

"What? No! Don't pick me!" 

"Why do I have to pick Naruto?"

"It's an unwritten rule that he's everyone's date." Kiba said, grinning. "We got him super fucked up last year because of it." Hinata shrugged and picked up her drink and made a cheers gesture with Naruto. Naruto grumbled and drank. He then looked at Deidara and thought for a minute.

"I love how you don't care what people think about you." He said and Ino perked up.

"Backhanded compliment? Yes!" Deidara scowled.

About 10 minutes into the game, Sasuke picked a nine which was rhyme. He looked at Ino and said "chick". Naruto responded with thick, Kiba said lick, Deidara said flick, Hinata said tick and Ino SHOUTED "DICK!" at the same time Hizashi walked in the room.

"Hi, Hizashi." She said sweetly, like she hadn't just screamed dick. "Come join our game."

"He can't. There isn't any room." Neji said flatly and Ino smirked.

"There's a spot right underneath me."

"No, it's fine. I don't know how the game is played, I'll just watch." Ino was really not happy when she remembered Queen was changed into "Never Have I Ever". This was also something Hinata and Neji were nervous about.

So naturally Gaara drew a queen.

"Never have I ever..." Gaara frowned thinking. This was easier last year. "Completely forgot my lines in a play." He said and Sasuke sighed and put a finger down. Ino frowned. This was going to take a while.

Itachi- Never have I ever taken a pregnancy test. (When Naruto put a finger down everyone was confused but he didn't elaborate on the story at all.  
Sasuke- Never have I ever worn clothes to cover a hickey. (Essentially everyone put a finger down and Itachi smirked feeling a glare from Gaara.  
Naruto- Never have I ever had sex in the back of a car. (Ino's face was pinched but she put her finger down but to her delight, so did Kiba and Itachi.)  
Kiba- Never have I ever been frisked by the police. (Deidara put his finger down with a chuckle and Ino rolled her eyes.  
Deidara- Never have I ever fucked a teacher. (Itachi laughed when Gaara's face burned and he put a finger down.)  
Hinata- Never have I ever gotten a tattoo. (Aaand Ino and Kiba lost.)

The game ended when Ino broke the circle and cursed loudly.

"No! I hate peppermint vodka!" She yelled and groaned. She sighed and took the shot and winced. "Okay. I'm done. Goodbye." She stood up. "Hi, Hizashi. Sorry you had to see that."

"Seemed like fun." He replied with a smile 

"Come on. I saved you some cookies I made. Just know your son is the one that picked out my cookie cutter." She said and Neji glared at her and they left the room. "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it."

"I had a project to work on for my job. I made sure to put in extra hours so I could get here to see you." Ino blushed beautifully and smiled at him. He was such a sweetheart.

She grabbed her bag of cookies and led him to the piano room. The party upstairs was in full swing and it was loud. She didn't want to be around people and she knew the piano room was closed off to the party so it was perfect. They both got inside and sat on the couch together. Ino curled her legs under her and leaned against the arm of the couch. She handed him the bag of cookies with a snort and he pulled out a penis cookie and raised an eyebrow.

"We had a bucket of cookie cutters and the person to your right was able to pick out your cookie cutter and Neji gave me the penis." She said with a laugh.

"I can yell at him if you'd like." He said with a smile and Ino giggled.

"It's no big deal. I thought it was funny."

"He shouldn't treat a lady so crassly. It shows negatively on me, since I'm the one who raised him." Hizashi said and Ino frowned.

"I don't think any less of you. I think you're fantastic." Ino said and Hizashi smiled at her.

"I am glad you do." Ino pointed to the doorframe.

"Oh, we walked under mistletoe and didn't kiss. I'm pretty sure there's a penalty for that." She said and he raised his eyebrow.

"And what would that be?"

"We have to kiss longer." She said innocently and he laughed and his eyes crinkled. He was so handsome she couldn't stop admiring him. "I don't make up the rules, I'm just a strict enforcer of Christmas laws."

"Oh, they're laws now?" He asked and she nodded. "Can't go breaking laws then, can we?" His voice was a bit deeper as he said it and Ino bit her lip.

"Yeah, exactly." She said and they leaned in close and she giggled right before they kissed. She looked at his eyes and slowly both of their eyes closed and their lips pressed together. A happiness was running through Ino's body at the closeness of Hizashi. She wondered how it was that he made her feel this way.

"Go on a date with me." He whispered against her lips.

"When?" She asked.

"Tomorrow."

"I'm there." She said and he smiled at her and kissed her again. Ino inwardly giggled thinking about her letter to Santa and how she got her Christmas wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) So I was strongly considering writing something that's based off of this story but entirely PWP. Like all the ships I wanted to explore but couldn't do it or it would destroy the story. So it would be a collection of smut chapters with the characters how they are here. If I did that, which pairings would you be interested to see play out of I did that?  
> 2) Where should Hizashi bring Ino on date number two?  
> 3) How you feeling about that GaaLee kiss?  
> 4) Kakashi and Guy are going to renew their wedding vows. Should they have a wedding like party or should they just keep it short and sweet? (Essentially "Guy and Kakashi are renewing their wedding vows, who wins the argument of what to do, Guy or Kakashi?" lol)
> 
> Don't forget to check my tumblr. I got some pretty sweet pictures on there of my fics. There's another group photo. I also have the picture for AshBoopTaylor and another one for Dewin and isis2iris!  
> https://smoresiesfanfic.tumblr.com/


	74. Chapter 74

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We check in with some characters  
> Ino's date with Hizashi  
> Neji's musings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WillowstreamHP** : Oh wow, I hope you have fun at the AnimeLosAngeles. That sounds pretty fun. Thank you for the prompts! Funny you like DeiHina because that wasn't even a pairing in mind for me lol. They're both just Ino's friends so I wanted them to have fun together.  
>  **Vivi** : Kakashi/Obito! Nice. I like it. I did take your date idea, I loved it. I got too into it. Sorry lol.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : LMAO I had to. I mean, I already drew them so why not? Ice skating would be cute, I'll have to use it at another point!  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : THAT. IS. AMAZING. I'm totally doing GaaLeeNeji. You got that broski. My only question is when should this take place? Should I make it in reference to the actual storyline or should they randomly get together?  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : I know! I just had to keep their passion alive somehow. They won't be kissing for a while. I had to. Do not worry, Neji has an arc planned, kind of angsty later on but he does have a happy ending :) I love Neji I won't hurt him(too bad)  
>  **Lollipopgang71** : Gurl. This chapter was so hard to write with our conversation in my mind lol. There's so many hints only you will get in this chapter, I hope you enjoy XD  
>  **animefanxlove** : EYYYYYY!!! Congrats!!! I hope you aren't too mad at me for the angst!! I'm glad you like it!  
>  **Bumblebees_Girl** : Are you spanish? Because my grandmother's name is Naomi and my cousin's last name is Flores and we're spanish lol. Now that that's out of the way, YASSS Welcome to the family. I. LOVE. THE. TRANS.SIBERIAN. ORCHESTRA. I actually went to see them live as a date. I was like 10 feet from the stage I was LIVING IT. THAT'S ALSO MY FAVORITE SONG OMG. Oh sweet, if you're a band geek maybe there's something you can help me with later on in the story (I'm like Gaara, I can't read music for shit and there's a part where they're reading music and I don't want to say something inaccurate.)

Chapter Seventy-Four:

Gaara woke up with a serious hangover in Itachi's bed. Itachi was next to him snoring so loudly Gaara knew that he also got drunk last night. Gaara couldn't even remember most of last night. He wondered who was still in the house and who was gone.

He took a quick shower and left Itachi in bed and went downstairs to the kitchen to see Ino sitting at the island counter on the bar stool.

"Good morning sweetie~!" Ino said with a grin and Gaara grumbled and poured himself some coffee. "Hangover?" Gaara nodded and lifted himself up and sat on the counter and look at her while he drank his coffee.

"Who's all here?" Gaara asked and Ino furrowed her brow in thought.

"Uh, well... There's Hinata, Dee and Kiba in the living room. Naruto and Sasuke are in Sasuke's room and I think Neji and Lee are in the basement still." So the gang was all still there.

"Do you remember what happened last night? I can't."

"I wasn't really with you guys for a lot of it but you did decide to go to sleep in Itachi's room and Itachi went with you. I thought something was going on but apparently you can disappoint even me." She teased and Gaara blushed and rolled his eyes.

"I won't even ask how your night was."

"Ugh, don't even remind me. Hizashi was a perfect gentleman again no matter how much I insinuated I was DTF. I'm going to get blue balls from him, I swear." Gaara frowned.

"I don't think it's possible for you."

"Why not? I'm a woman. I can grow another person, why can't I grow balls?" She asked and he raised his glass to her question.

"Valid point. So what are you doing next?" Ino shrugged. "Where is he anyway?"

"He went to get me tampons." Gaara raised a brow.

"You're shitting me, right?" Ino smiled and looked a tad embarrassed.

"No. I woke up in a very unfortunate way and he helped me clean up and Hinata only had a few pads so he told me he'd go get me some tampons."

"So, did you purchase the engagement ring yet?" She laughed.

"No. But I should, shouldn't I?" Suddenly the front door was opened quietly and shut just as soft and Hizashi walked into the room and smiled at Gaara. He really did seem very nice. Gaara was excited to talk to the man finally. "Thank you..." Ino said, blushing and took the bag.

"My pleasure." Just from him saying the word pleasure made Ino want to jump his bones. She really needed to calm herself down. 

She also idly wondered if he would be opposed to period shower sex or not.

Ino left the room and Gaara continued to stare at the man as he swung his legs back and forth on the counter.

"So you're her best friend." Hizashi said and Gaara nodded. "We haven't really had a chance to properly meet. I'm Hizashi." He held out his hand and Gaara took it and gave a firm shake.

"I know all about you. Trust me." Gaara said as he continued to drink his coffee. "So what are your intentions with my best friend?" Gaara asked seriously and Hizashi smiled at the question. 

"I was hoping I would get the best friend interrogation, this tells me you see me as an honest dating candidate for Ino." He said and Gaara nodded slowly.

"She's pretty enamored with you, if you couldn't tell." He said flatly and noticed how it made Hizashi's face brighten. 

"You think so?" It was more rhetorical than not but Gaara nodded again all the same.

"So? You still haven't answered my question." Gaara said and Hizashi chuckled and tucked a stray hair behind his ear.

"Would it be weird if I wanted to date her?" Gaara was confused. "With our age difference. I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable." Gaara smirked at that.

"If there's anything I can overlook, it's an age gap. But I tend to aim for older guys too." Gaara was now wondering if that had anything to do with his father or not but pushed the thought down, not wanting it to dull his mood any. "Does it bother you that she's so much younger?"

"Only in the way that I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. I don't typically pick up college girls." 

"You don't look the type to do so."

"Alright, I'm back. Stop talking shit about me, Gaara." Ino said as she walked into the room.

"So back to what I was saying on Ino right clicking three times every time she uses her computer-"

"You told him that!?" Gaara smirked.

"Yeah, just now. He should know everything annoying about you." He said and jumped off the counter. "I'm going to go wake up Itachi." 

"Yeah, I hope you enjoy yourself."

"Pervert." Gaara left the room and Ino giggled. 

***

"Lee." Neji whispered. "Lee it's like 1 in the afternoon."

"W-wha?" Lee rubbed his face, his mouth feeling so incredibly dry. Neji handed him some water and he drank it much faster than what was probably good for him. "Mornin'." 

"Good afternoon." Neji amended with a smile on his face. "Would you like to come visit my home today? My dad is going back with Ino I guess. We can all get a ride from him there then I can drive us back with my car since I hitched a ride from Ino to get here."

"I would love that." Lee's voice was heavy with sleep. "I just need to shower. I feel not very nice."

"Okay. Let's get ready."

***

"Gaara." Ino walked into Itachi's room, half dressed, holding several outfits in her hand. Itachi looked up at her curiously and Gaara rolled his eyes and crawled off the bed, handing Itachi his third cup of coffee that day. He'd been in bed since he woke up. He couldn't actually wake himself up, he was dying inside, he was sure of it.

"What are you doing?" He asked and she sighed.

"Well he wanted to take me ice skating but I got my period and now I don't want to move very much so probably do something at his house. And not even sex." She pouted and Gaara didn't even flinch.

"You can always have sex in the shower." He said simply and picked out her outfit. "Now get changed and let me see. Don't put on too much makeup if you're just staying home, you'll look ridiculous." Ino rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom off of Itachi's room. Gaara sat back down on the bed and Itachi was chuckling at him. "What?"

"You're a good girlfriend." He complimented and Gaara rolled his eyes and laid back on the bed. "You still tired?"

"I'm not only tired, I'm exhausted. And school starts in two days and I don't want to go. I'm just thankful I have a few more months than no school."

"No school? You have college after this." Gaara groaned.

"We already argued about this, Itachi. I'm not going to college, there isn't a point. Plus I don't have the money." Itachi opened his mouth to protest. "No. You aren't paying for my college either."

"But..." Itachi frowned. "You need to go to college."

"Itachi, we aren't together, you shouldn't feel the need to spend so much money on me, and plus, college is super expensive. You don't need to waste that kind of money on me, you've done enough for me."

"I don't feel the need to spend money on you, Gaara. I want to. I want to buy you things because you deserve them. You should be able to go to college. Whether we're together or not, I love you. I want to give you things."

"Itachi, please. Don't say that." Gaara looked down at the floor.

"Why? You told me you loved me just a few days ago. Why can't I tell you I love you too?"

"Because it's just making it harder to get over you. I can't do this." Gaara admitted with a sigh.

"You don't have to get over me. We can just be together." Itachi said quietly and Gaara bit his cheek.

"I can't, Itachi. You know that." Itachi sighed and nodded weakly.

"At least I was your last kiss of 2018." Itachi said wistfully and Gaara felt a weight of guilt. Itachi wasn't his last kiss. Lee was.

***

After everyone left, Kiba asked Gaara if he wanted to hang out but Gaara decided to go home and Kiba brought Deidara and Hinata home with him for a while. 

Naruto and Sasuke were still in bed sleeping and Itachi sat in his room just staring out of the window. 

He felt more lonely now than he had ever felt. His hand idly went to the spot in his bed Gaara normally laid in and he sighed. He wanted Gaara back at his side and he just got so angry with himself for doing this again. He knew Gaara wasn't lying, he wasn't ready. But it still gnawed at him. He wanted to have Gaara by his side every day. He wanted to wake up next to Gaara as he had the entire month of December. After their small tiff, he wondered if Gaara would come back tonight to sleep with him.

Itachi ran his fingers through his hair, feeling anxiety tingle through his body. The thought of being alone was terrifying right now. Sure, Sasuke had this month off from school. But how much of it would be spent with his older brother and not Naruto? Would Gaara stop coming over entirely? Would Naruto even hang out with him since Sasuke is back?

For once, Itachi just really wanted to be someone's priority.

***

The drive to Hizashi's house was interesting. Ino sat up front with Hizashi and Lee and Neji were in the back. Hizashi really did want to talk to Ino, but he couldn't pass up the time to question his son's new boyfriend. He hoped Ino didn't mind.

The entire time he didn't notice Ino stare at Lee through her visor mirror, making him nervous just to fuck with him. Neji didn't even realize but he thought it was strange that Lee kept stuttering. 

"So how long have you and Ino known each other?" He asked, mixing things up after a while. Ino was surprised, she didn't even think about that.

"Since fifth grade." Lee said simply. "We had the same teacher. She sat next to me in art class. She would not share the glitter with me." Ino laughed out loud.

"You remember that?" Lee smiled awkwardly.

"Of course I do. I remember how I met all of my friends." Lee said, smiling a bit more earnestly.

"What about your other friend? How did you meet Gaara?" A smile stretched across Lee's face.

"Oh! One day I ran into him at school and all of his books went all over the floor and I helped him pick them up. Then I got a job as a barista at the café he worked at. Ironically, Ino worked there too. I never did work with you."

"Yeah, that's because that's before Gaara actually slept and made everything on his own. I just showed up once a week to prep croissants because he refuses to make them. I honestly don't know why. They're so easy."

"To be fair, he does not usually like using a rolling pin. I do not know if you've noticed, but he usually pushes those jobs on other people." Ino blinked. Lee was right. "The only one he makes is cinnamon rolls."

"Oh that's just because those are your favorite and god forbid you go without cinnamon rolls. If there's one thing he makes sure of, it's that every time you come down he makes them." Lee blinked.

"I did not know that." Ino nodded.

"Yeah, same reason he makes pancakes for Naruto, salsa for Sasuke, a stupid amount of sweet things for Itachi, he even started to learn the favorite foods of Deidara, Kiba and Hinata. I wouldn't be surprised if he even picked up Neji's favorite food. Just pay close attention to dinner tomorrow night when we get back. He's like the mom friend when it comes to feeding people, I don't know why."

"He... You think he knows my favorite food?" Neji asked, skeptical. Ino perked her eyebrow.

"I know he knows your favorite food. And your least favorite food. It's a superpower of his." Neji chuckled.

"I doubt it. I doubt even Lee could guess." Ino picked up her phone and put it on speaker. "What are you doing?" She didn't answer him.

"Hello?" Gaara's voice sounded through the car and Ino grinned.

"Honey, I have a question for you."

"Okay. What is it?" Lee smiled just hearing Gaara's voice.

"Do you know Neji's favorite food?" 

"Yeah, why?" Neji looked skeptical. "Do you need to know it? Are you cooking for them tonight?"

"No I just wanted to prove a point. Do you know his least favorite food?"

"Yeah. Interestingly enough he doesn't like spicy food which is funny to me because that's Lee's favorite. He also doesn't like pumpkins, but his favorite food is herring soba." Ino watched Neji's face contort into confusion and amazement. Hizashi started to laugh. "Why did you need to know?"

"You're on speaker phone and I wanted to prove to Neji you had a superpower." Ino giggled. "Thank you honey."

"No problem. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you. Bye." Gaara hung up and Ino put her phone away.

"You two end your calls with I love you?" Lee asked, surprised.

"Uh, duh. I love him. That's my boo." Ino said and turned back around on her seat. "And it doesn't surprise me that someone as white as you doesn't like spicy foods, Neji." She teased and Neji scowled.

***

"Sorry guys, we have to stop here real quick." Ino said after she instructed Hizashi to pull into the supermarket. "I need to grab some things."

"I'll go with you." Hizashi said with a smile and turned off the car. Neji and Lee decided to join to grab some snacks for their movie night.

"You cooking Ino?" Lee asked and Ino nodded.  


"Yes, I brought some of my baking things. I wanted to bake with Hizashi today." She said with a smile at the older man and he chuckled.

"I doubt I'll be much help."

"That's fine. I'm a patient teacher."

***

"Okay, so what are we making?" He asked and she opened her bag and pulled out some kitchen equipment. 

"Red velvet cake. I heard you say you liked it." Ino said, smiling and got everything on the counter set up. "The first step to any baking or cooking excursion is to get your mise en place. It's French for getting everything in place. This makes it quicker and easier and this way you don't realize half way through making something that you don't have everything you need." Ino instructed and got everything measured out and put into cups and bowls. "The second thing you want to do after getting everything pre-measured out is to read through the entire recipe. Now, I've made red velvet cake a ton of times so I already know in what order to go in. Usually cakes are made with the creaming method, like cookies, but red velvet cake is made with oil typically instead of butter. It makes the cake moister. So with that in mind, I'm just going to scan through the sequence of what to add just to make sure I remember correctly because nothing is worse than adding things at the wrong time."

"What would happen if you added it at a different time?" Hizashi asked and Ino pursed her lips in thought.

"Well, it depends on what you added when. Like the creaming method is when you beat the butter and sugar at the beginning until it's light and fluffy. If you don't do that, you can ruin the texture. If you add the eggs too soon, you can over mix it. Same with the flour. Once you add flour you're activating the gluten and the more it gets mixed, the tougher it'll be. Things are in a certain order for a reason." 

"Okay. Got it." Hizashi nodded and Ino giggled and handed the recipe to Hizashi. "I read through it?" She nodded. "Okay. Uh. Do you have the cake pans?" She held them up. "We have to grease them and flour them." Ino nodded. She sprayed the sides and pulled out parchment paper and cut circles and put them on the bottom. He sprinkled some flour on them and grabbed the recipe again. 

"You're going to whisk the dries together. That includes everything but the sugar." Ino said and he nodded and grabbed a bigger bowl and dumped in the premeasured flour, baking powder, baking soda, coco powder and salt. "Now in another bowl mix the sugar and oil." He did that. "Now add the rest of the wets. The buttermilk, coffee, vinegar, vanilla extract, eggs and food coloring."

"Now, why did they decide to dye it red? Why not blue?"

"Red velvet cake wasn't named because they dyed it red, silly." She said smiling. "It started out as a chemical reaction. The acidic ingredients in it, the buttermilk and vinegar, the alkaline ingredients, the baking soda and lastly the cocoa poweder has pigments in it that when they're mixed together the cake turns a reddish color. As time went on people started to add red to it to make it brighter because... I don't know, it looked more esthetically pleasing to the eye."

"You're quite knowledgeable." He complimented and she giggled. "I think that's very attractive."

"I think you're very attractive." Ino said flirtatiously and Hizashi smiled at her and they were standing extremely close to each other and he watched her bite her lip.

"How appropriate. I feel the same way about you." He purred and she glanced at his lips and he took the hint and leaned in to kiss her.

Just like every kiss of his made her feel, she got weak in the knees and put her arms around his neck for support. His arms wrapped round her hips and he pulled her closer to him and she hummed happily in response. She felt him smile against her lips and they pulled away so they were a few inches apart.

"I'd like more baking lessons if they all end this way." He whispered and she grinned.

"We can just skip the lessons." She kissed him this time, feeling more brave with his arms around her. She liked feeling his grip tighten with each kiss. 

"Aw come on, I thought you said you were baking!" Neji groaned when he walked into the room. Hizashi had the grace to look embarrassed but Ino only winked at the younger Hyuuga. They did step apart though. Shortly after, Lee entered the room.

"Oh! Cake! What are you making?" He asked and leaned over the counter to see.

"Red velvet cake." Hizashi answered with a smile.

"So chocolate?" Neji said flatly and Ino frowned.

"Excuse you. Red velvet is so much more than chocolate. There's only two fucking tablespoons of cocoa powder in it. It's more of a rich and moist cake too."

"Don't say that word, I hate that word." Neji said with a scowl and Ino leaned over the counter and narrowed her eyes.

"Moist." She said, enunciating each syllable. Neji leaned over the counter to glare at her better and glowered.

"You so severely lack brain matter that you'll float on water." He said lowly and before Hizashi could scold him, Ino was already on top of it.

"I'd insult you, but then I'll have to explain it afterwards so nevermind."

"Don't ever wear a burlap sack on your head, people won't be able to tell where the sack started and where your face ended."

"You won't be able to get a dime prostitute on half-price day."

"What do you use as a contraceptive? Your face?"

"When God rained beauty all over his creations, you probably were holding an umbrella."

"I'd call you a cunt, but you lack the warmth and depth." Hizashi sputtered at that indignantly. Was this how his son spoke to a woman? He glanced to Lee and Lee only looked amused. When he looked to Ino he saw that she was smirking and holding back a laugh. She enjoyed this?

"Your asshole must be so jealous of your mouth from all the shit it's been spewing."

"Your birth certificate is a letter of apology from the condom factory."

"You look like someone hit 'random' on the Skyrim character customization."

"I forget, how are your parents related again?"

"You're so ugly, your portraits hang themselves."

"Wait wait. Stop." Neji said and pulled back. Ino raised an eyebrow. "You're being very... clean with this."

"Are you upset because I'm not insulting you with sexual insults?" Ino asked slowly. Neji just frowned.

"You normally do. I want to know why you aren't now. Is it because your subject of insults is standing to your right side?" Ino's face burned and she scowled at him.

"You insulted me?" Hizashi asked, not really offended, more humored.

"More like threatened to sleep with you." Lee said conversationally while he ate an apple.

"Okay, you want dirty insults, Neji? I got you." She glanced to Hizashi. "I'm sorry you had to be here for this." She turned back to Neji. "You better shut your cock holster."

"If I would jump from your ego to your intelligence I would die before I hit the ground."

"Acting like a dick won't make yours any bigger."

"Go put some sand in your crotch, it will make the crabs feel at home."

"I would shove my foot up your ass but you would enjoy it."

"I heard you were fired from the sperm bank for drinking on the job."

"Your dick is like a landmine; small, hidden and explodes on contact."

"Are you two done yet?" Lee asked and both of them looked at him.

"Lee... where is your apple core?" Ino asked and he showed her the stem. "That's.... you ate the apple core?" He nodded. "What the fuck." 

"Neji, are you quite done now?" Hizashi asked, clearly not impressed by the display. Neji pouted and gave Ino one last glare and stormed out of the kitchen. Lee followed shortly after. "I don't know what got into him."

"No really, it's totally fine. I have fun." Hizashi raised an eyebrow. "I'm not even trying to stick up for him, I genuinely enjoy bantering with Neji. He's the only one who will do it with me."

"You... enjoy being insulted?"

"No, but I enjoy hearing how quick he can insult. I think it's funny. Sorry you had to witness it. We usually get it out of the way sooner than that." Hizashi shook his head with a chuckle. "Don't judge us."

"Sure. Let's get back to the cake..."

***

Once the cake was baked, cooled down and cut, Ino put the bottom layer on a cake circle and handed Hizashi the piping bag, putting the cake circle on a turntable. He looked at it uncomfortably.

"Can't... you do this part?" She smiled at him. 

"Come on. All you have to do is fill it. Start in the center and spiral out." She instructed and he did it and it was kind of lopsided so she handed him her offset spatula. He smoothed it out a bit and she put the next layer. He repeated and she placed the last layer on top.

"How do you do this?" He asked, holding the spatula at a weird angle trying to ice the sides. She grabbed the spatula and made the movements look flawless. He watched impressed. She cleaned up the sides a bit and changed the tip of the piping bag so it was a star tip.

Once they were done, Hizashi noticed Ino walk over to the oven where she was baking off some of the scraps of the cake into hardened crumbs. Once they were dry enough she picked up the cake, holding the cake circle and pressed the crumbs onto the side of the cake. When she was done and the entire side of the cake was coated in crumbs, she cleaned off the bottom of the cake circle and picked up the piping bag.

"This is the tip we're going to use. It's the most common. Now we're going to do a clamshell piping job on the bottom. It's very simple. You hold the bag in the middle like so... twist the bag closed, hold the turntable and start right here and just... flick your wrist." She showed him the movement slowly, then handed him the bag. He tried but they weren't uniform and extremely lopsided. She just smiled at him. "You're doing great. Here, I'll move the turntable, hold the bag with both hands to give yourself more control." His grip was shaky at best but Ino still complimented him and gave him gentle pointers. "Alright, awesome. Now for the top of the cake we're just going to pipe some rosettes on it. You take the piping bag, start from the center of your rosette and make a swirl. Then you keep going until you have rosettes around the entire cake." She showed him two and handed him the bag and he breathed in and held his breath as he piped the first one. She smiled again. He was so cute. He was really concentrating. Ino couldn't remember the last time she concentrated so much on decorating a cake. It was second nature by this point. "Beautiful."

"Not really, but I tried." He said with a laugh and she grinned at him.

"I think it's perfect."

They were kissing again. This kiss was a more over dramatic, passionate kiss. There was just so much tension in the air it was driving the both of them crazy. He pushed her against the wall and she made a soft whine. He pulled away slightly to look at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm so turned on right now." She whispered and he smirked. "Don't smirk at me, you're making it worse." She said and tilted her head back against the wall. She felt his hand move up her leg and made a whimpering noise. "Don't tease me."

"Who said I'm teasing?" He whispered against the shell of her ear. She shivered and felt his hand hike up her skirt and move up her thigh. She instinctively moved her legs apart wider and the pressure of his fingers against her underwear made her bite her lip. He moved her panties to the side, just enough to rub her clit with his middle finger. She shoved her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, steadying herself. It wasn't so much of what he was doing that was driving her crazy, it was the fact that he was touching her that was driving her crazy. 

"I want to have sex with you." She whined quietly.

"Not today." He kissed her cheek. "We'll have time soon. Just not when my son is in the house." He said with another smirk. She returned it.

"You think you can make me that loud?" He kissed her again.

"I'm going to do my best to try." He slid his hand up her shirt and under her bra and cupped her breast in his hand and she bit the fabric of his shirt to stop herself from making any noise. The last thing she wanted was Neji to ruin this moment. He pinched her nipple slightly and she whimpered slightly. He started to kiss down her neck and she couldn't control herself anymore. She was too turned on. She finished with the softest moan and just hearing her moan made Hizashi's breathing hitch.

"Mm... Let me return the favor."

"I'd rather wait." She looked at him confused. "The longer I wait, the better it will be when I finally have you."

"By the time you give in you're going to lose your damn mind."

"I plan on it. And I'm excited for it." He gave her a look over with eyes hazed with lust. "I'm really looking forward to it."

***

"It bothers you that much?" Lee asked Neji once they were in the safety of his room.

"It's just... It's irritating. And I don't like it. I don't want her here. I want her gone." Lee frowned.

"Neji... is this his first girlfriend... since your mom?" Neji scowled.

"No but it has been far and few between. I don't see why he's wasting his time with the likes of her." Neji said with a pout.

"Ino is a lot of things but she is not a terrible person." Lee countered. "I bet you two could grow to like one another." Neji gagged at the thought. "Oh do not pull that on me!" Lee laughed. "I know you enjoy arguing with her. It is the only time I see you that pumped up to insult someone."

"Yes. Because I'm insulting her." Lee rolled his eyes and laid back on the bed. "I don't wish to talk about her anymore." Neji said with a frown. "Let's talk about... You. And Gaara." Lee was suddenly burning with panic.

"W-what? Why?" He asked and sat up, but Neji was too preoccupied with his own musings he didn't notice the clear alarm in Lee's voice.

"You two still aren't back to best friends, are you?" Lee was relaxed suddenly.

"No. But it is fine. We will eventually be okay. I just need to give him some time. I really hurt his feelings." Lee said seriously. "But please, let us not talk about Gaara. I would like to spend some time with my boyfriend. What would you like to watch?" Neji shrugged and sat on the bed next to Lee. His mind was racing for all the wrong reasons. His annoyance with Ino, his discomfort with her presence and yet, she was the answer to the other half of what was bothering him. She could help him figure out what to do with Lee and Gaara.

All he had to do was suck up his pride and ask for help.

Those were two things he had most difficulty doing.

He was not happy that while he sat next to his boyfriend the only person he was thinking about, was fucking Ino.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH~HO~HO~! Ino!! I'm so excited for them to do the frick-frack y'all have no idea. Idk why I keep putting it off. I guess I want Hizashi to bring her on the most freaking magical date ever and have some crazy sex or something idk.
> 
> 1) The PWP story I was talking about last chapter has 3 chapter prompts already. KakashiObito, GaaLeeNeji and InoShukaku (I can't even tell you how excited I am to write these) So help me pick a time frame they go to. (Like should they be written like they were part of the original story line or just random excerpts?) Now just remember that these didn't actually happen, they're just for fun. (For those who will be upset that Kakashi will technically cheat on guy, it isn't actually part of the story, he didn't really cheat on guy. We can get through this together. I promise.)  
> 2) Should Gaara and Itachi sleep together before Itachi's next love interest comes into the picture or no? (because I have no self restraint and you're lucky everyone isn't sleeping together with everyone always tbh. I have no impulse control. You all are my impulse control)  
> 3) College for the lovelies doesn't start for another month. Should I do something with them or just time skip a bit?  
> 4) What should Gaara be doing right now? He's just depressed and honestly not doing anything and I feel bad.  
> 5) What should Lee be doing now? I've been neglecting him because I have no plans for him right now so he's just kind of there. (I'm so sorry my sweet baby, Lee. I love you.)


	75. Chapter 75

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> drama and angst i guess. sorry. I'm in kind of a bad mood so it reflected in my writing. my b.
> 
> My comments to you will be short and sweet, again. Sorry. I still love you all. 
> 
> **Should Gaara and Itachi sleep together one more time**  
>  Yes |||  
> No ||||||  
>  **Result is NO** (Aww man D:)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Vivi** : Thank you for your kind comment. I'll try to have a better Gaara/Ino interaction next chapter.  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Thank you! I'm dying to write the final ka-boom with Hizaino. It's a need. I'm dying inside tbh.  
>  **Bumblebees_Girl** : Thank you for your ideas. They did help.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : I know, right? I'm in love and it's so random lol. Thank you!  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : I'm glad to hear that. Thank you for your ideas.   
> **Lollipopgang71** : Poor Ino. I love her. My husband eats the apple core which is why I mentioned it lol. Thank you for your ideas darling.  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : I'm excited to finish the gaanejilee oneshot. It's already two pages. Thanks for your ideas  
>  **Erolf** : Aw, I'm super glad you decided to continue to join us. "Your certificate of birth is an apology from the condom factory" is basically saying "your parents didn't want you and the condom didn't work and got pregnant anyway and you're so shitty even the condom factory feels bad" i guess is the best way to describe it. And like I said, it's just PWP oneshots with the characters how they act in this universe. You don't have to read them!   
> animefanxlove: I'm glad you're happy. sorry, I really don't know how angsty my story is. I'm not as in tune with angst as I should be it doesn't bother me. Thank you for your help and you'll see the fruits of your labor today or tomorrow when that oneshot is posted so look out for it! And you'll find out who Itachi's love interest is this chapter.

Chapter Seventy-Five:

Before Lee came downstairs from gathering his things to leave, Neji approached Ino with much trepidation. He stared at her awkwardly for a second and sighed.

"What?" She asked as she munched on grapes.

"I need your help." He mumbled and she leaned in, as to say she couldn't understand him. "I need your help." He said through grit teeth. Ino smiled sweetly.

"Yeah? What do you need?" She asked and ate another grape, looking at Neji intently with a smile on her face.

"Lee. And Gaara." Ino raised her eyebrow and prepared to go on the defensive if he said something bad about her boo. "They're fighting." 

"Yes?"

"I want them to stop." He said seriously and Ino blinked. Had she misread him completely?

"Why? Isn't it better for you if they don't talk?" Neji frowned at the statement. "I'm not saying I want them fighting, I'm just saying it's weird that you care that they are."

"They're best friends. Gaara angry at Lee is upsetting Lee. I'd like to see Lee happy. And Gaara isn't bad. I..." Neji trailed off and furrowed his brow, trying to think of the correct word. "appreciate his company." He said finally and Ino nodded.

"Okay. I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to Gaara." Neji frowned.

"You haven't already?"

"No? Gaara has every right to be annoyed at Lee. I was giving him time to be mad. It isn't like he'd be mad forever. He loves the hell outta Lee. They're best friends. Next to me of course." Neji rolled his eyes. "I think you're worrying for no reason but I'll talk to Gaara anyway."

"Um." Neji's frown deepened. "Then maybe it would be prudent to exchange numbers so we can discuss this." Ino grinned slyly.

"Aw, shit. This was just a set up to get my digits. You could've asked your daddy for them." She winked and Neji scowled at her. "Calm your tits, Neji. I'm not being serious. You actually liking me. Hah." She laughed loudly and grabbed Neji's phone and put herself in his contact list, then text her number so she'd know it was him. She handed him his phone back and saved Neji into her own phone. 

"You're a menace to society." Neji said flatly and Ino smiled.

"Say that any more sweetly and I'd think you like me." She teased and spun around to grab her things and say goodbye to Hizashi.

Neji rolled his eyes and walked upstairs to gather his own belongings. 

"Hizashi." Ino called and peeked into different rooms. Eventually she went to the last room, his office, and he opened the door and yanked her inside and pushed her against the wall and gave her such a forceful mind-blowing kiss, that she felt weak. "Hello." She said with a ditzy smile. 

"Hey." He ran his fingers through her hair and smiled at her. "I anxiously await when I will be able to see you again." He whispered and she smiled and took his face into her hands.

"I hope you come see me as quickly as possible." She purred and kissed him again. The feel of his hard body against hers was more exhilarating than anything she'd ever encountered. 

"Ino!" Lee called from the living room. "We are leaving!" Hizashi pulled away and Ino pouted.

"Until next time." He promised and she smiled at him and kissed him one last time and opened his door and he followed her out, with his hands in the pockets of his gray slacks. He was always dressed so nicely. "Let me." He said and grabbed Ino's bag and she giggled. Neji rolled his eyes and just stormed over to his car to turn it on. It was cold outside and Hizashi glanced at what Ino was wearing. "You're still in your pajamas?"

"If I have to be in the car for longer than an hour, I'm usually in my pajamas." She said laughing.

"Really? I could've sworn you wore the sexiest dress when we drove to the city." He said with a smirk, placing her bag in the trunk.

"Ooo, you thought it was sexy?" She twirled her hair and he chuckled.

"Yes. And you looked stunning in it." Ino grinned at that and Hizashi kissed her softly. "I had to steal one more. Now get in the car before my son explodes."

"You got it." She winked and he opened the back door for her and she climbed in the car and he closed it. He waved at her then walked to Neji's window and knocked on it. Neji rolled the window down with a look of irritation. 

"What?" He asked flatly and Hizashi's eyes were amused but his mouth frowned.

"Don't be so rude. You never know when I won't be around anymore." He said with a laugh and Neji sighed. "Have fun. If I don't see you again, good luck with your next semester. Please visit home more. I could get electrocuted to death or something and you wouldn't even know until your semester at college was over." Neji rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure I'd realize something's wrong. You call me every night." Hizashi's eyes twinkled at that. "You say that like it's a bad thing." 

"Goodbye dad."

"Goodbye Neji. I love you." He ruffled Neji's hair and Neji glowered at that and Hizashi stood up straight and waved at everyone in the car. "Goodbye Lee. Goodbye Ino." His eyes lingered on Ino and she made a heart with her hands and blew him a kiss as they drove away. Neji was not amused.

***

Itachi was cleaning his house. Really deep cleaning his house. He was even shampooing his carpets. He was going absolutely nuts.

Naruto and Sasuke tried to help him but Itachi insisted that he was the only one who could do it and Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a look but didn't say anything. When they retreated to an area Itachi couldn't hear they finally expressed their concern.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Sasuke whispered. "He's never like this."

"Well, his cuddle buddy wasn't here last night, maybe it has to do with Gaara?" Naruto offered and Sasuke frowned.

"I don't like what's going on with them. Like, are they dating or not?"

"They aren't together. They just sleep next to each other. They don't even sleep WITH each other. It's totally weird. Maybe they broke up again."

"Again? You just said they weren't together."

"No like... they aren't sleeping next to each other anymore. They're broken up from that." Sasuke frowned.

"I don't like seeing him like this. It's like Kisame all over again." Sasuke sighed and Naruto's eyes shimmered with recognition.

"Kisame? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Naruto asked and Sasuke plopped down on the couch in the piano room.

"Itachi's fling from High school?"

"Oh man! I remember him! He was HUGE!" Naruto extended his arms for emphasis. "He DWARFED us." Sasuke chuckled at that. Yeah, Itachi was to his shoulder. "Man, it sucks what happened to him." Sasuke nodded solemnly. 

"Yeah. Itachi was pretty bent up about it for a while." Sasuke said and smiled. "I actually still have pictures with him."

"I totally forgot what the dude looked like. Let's go check out your pictures." The two ran upstairs quickly and Itachi glanced up the stairs, curious as to what they were so excited about.

Sasuke got into the room and walked to his bookcase and on the lowest shelf there was a dark blue photo album. The album was labeled 2007-2009. He grabbed it and both him and Naruto sat on the bed. When they opened the book they were greeted with pictures of Sasuke's parents which he faltered slightly at but kept skimming through the pictures. Eventually there were pictures with Naruto, and then he found pictures with Lee. Once they found those pictures they knew they were close.

Kakashi and Guy were standing with a 16 year old who towered over them. His skin was tan, his hair was spiky and blue, his eyes were closed with his happy wolfish smile. Kisame donned his shark tooth necklace that he always had. Kakashi and Guy looked so much younger and they were laughing at something Kisame said.

"Do you think Lee misses him?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Probably. They were super close for like that entire year." Naruto frowned.

"I haven't heard Kakashi and Guy talk about him in forever."

"They're probably still pissed off. The system failed. Like how it always does." Sasuke said with a sigh and he flipped to the next page. There was a picture with Kisame giving Lee a piggy-back ride, Kisame yelling at something, a 16 year old Itachi looking at the camera extremely confused with Kisame's hand on his shoulder, pointing to something off the camera mid-sentence. There were so many memories of someone who wasn't around anymore.

Sasuke felt his heart weigh down slightly and closed the photo album and tossed it to his night stand with a sigh. 

"I'm done remembering."

"I wonder if Lee has any information on what happened. No one really told us anything and Itachi was pretty tight-lipped about it all. Think he still remembers Kisame?" Sasuke snorted.

"Of course he does, idiot." Naruto knew Sasuke was lashing out because he was upset so just sighed and crossed his arms, ignoring Sasuke for a minute in order to cool down. 

"I wonder when Gaara will be here. He did say he was making dinner." Naruto mused out loud and Sasuke grabbed his phone to call their friend. 

"Hello?" Gaara answered on the second ring which was pretty punctual.

"Hey, are you coming over today?"

"Yeah. I'm just getting some things together now. Why?"

"You're cooking, right!?" Naruto asked loudly next to Sasuke. Gaara chuckled on the other line.

"I see, using me for my abilities."

"No, Sasuke just really wants another cooking lesson." Naruto said and Sasuke frowned at him. He didn't want anyone to know how much he enjoyed cooking.

"As I'm sure. I'll be over soon. Bye." He hung up and Naruto smiled at Sasuke.

"We get to eat well tonight!"

"You say it like we starve when Gaara doesn't cook." Sasuke said flatly.

"Well, I pretty much do when you're at college. If Gaara doesn't cook, who will cook for me? Itachi?" Sasuke frowned in thought and then realization dawned on him.

"I forgot, you live here." He said and Naruto gave a grin. "Oh you asshole, you can have Gaara cook for you all the time." Sasuke tugged on Naruto's hair and Naruto whined.

"Sasukeee." He jutted his lower lip out. "I need Gaara more than you. I'm useless in the kitchen."

"You're useless everywhere." Sasuke said with a scoff and Naruto raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Everywhere, huh?" Sasuke flushed at the implications and Naruto covered Sasuke's mouth with his own. "I'll remember that next time I hear you beg."

***

"So what are we doing for New Years?" Ino asked the next day while her and Gaara drove around with Deidara. 

"Fireworks!" Deidara said with a menacing grin. "I bought some!" 

"Doesn't really surprise me but we can't just sit there and set fireworks off all day on New Years." Ino said with an eye roll. 

"I mean, we can-"

"No." Ino cut him off and he sighed.

'You're such a fuckin' stick in the mud since you became Neji's mom, un." Deidara crossed his arms and Ino frowned at him in the rear view mirror.

"You're like a 5 year old so calm yourself." Ino said after a few seconds and shook her head. "Anyway, Gaara, I've been meaning to talk to you. What's going on with you and Lee?" She notice Gaara stiffened in his seat. "There's nothing you can't tell me."

"I know Ino. I already told you what happened before."

"Is that why you're still angry at him?" Gaara frowned and made himself smaller by curling in on himself while sighing.

"I'm fine." In all honesty he wasn't angry. He was numb. And when he was numb he couldn't bring it in himself to do anything with Lee. Sure, he didn't feel the anger, but he also couldn't feel the love or the forgiveness so there wasn't a point to talk to Lee. 

"Honey..." Ino's voice was uncharacteristically low. "Did you remember your medication?" Gaara nodded.

"Yes, Ino." He said but honestly... did he? His brain was fried. He couldn't remember. Did he remember to take his medication? When was the last time he remembered to take it?

Itachi gave it to him 3 nights ago before they went to sleep. Has it been two days? Gaara scowled at that but continued looking out of the window, surprised that for whatever reason, Deidara wasn't being overtly loud. He sat in the back seat and examined Gaara with wonder. 

Once Ino parked, Gaara got out of the car and walked to the mall quickly. Ino glanced back at Deidara. For once, Deidara didn't have a smug expression or any expression, really.

"He's off his meds, yeah." Deidara concluded and Ino sighed. She knew Gaara didn't mean to do it on purpose. He likely forgot and was embarrassed. But the fact that Deidara could even tell something was wrong really showed what kind of situation they were in. Ino really wanted to avoid Shukaku at all costs.

"Come on." 

***

Ino had to go to her house that night to spend time with her parents. She brought Deidara and Hinata with her. She wanted Gaara to come but he turned her down and instead went home. 

"Ino? Why are you calling me?" Itachi asked from the other side of the line.

"It's Gaara. I think he's off his meds." Itachi stayed quiet, then sighed.

"I'll see that he takes them. Thank you, Ino." Itachi hung up and Ino stared at the phone as if it would tell her what she should do. Because honestly, right now, she had no idea how to help her best friend.

***

Gaara sat in his room and stared at his thriving pine tree. He'd taken the decorations down two days ago but it was still beautiful. He really had to plant it soon, the roots are probably crying for room. He just couldn't bring himself to. He liked the tree in his bedroom.

Staring at the tree gave him some form of clarity. He felt better just thinking about being off his medication. A part of him was excited at the prospect of feeling his emotions again. Wouldn't that be something? To feel again?

Gaara laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling, counting all of the specks. It was a grounding feeling to try to put himself further in the state of his room. He felt the emotions he hadn't felt in so long curl up around his heart slowly. 

The most prominent one, was anger. Gaara felt so ridiculously angry he didn't know how to control it. He was angry at everything. He sat up and tried to steady his breathing. He knew he had an abnormal heart rate but it didn't help to get his blood pressure up either.

"Gaara?" Kakashi walked into the room and saw Gaara on the floor with his face flushed with anger. "Gaara...? Are you alright?" Kakashi asked awkwardly and Gaara didn't know how to answer that. He just pursed his lips and looked away from Kakashi's face. Eventually, Kakashi knelt down and handed him something. Gaara looked at the small pill and sighed. "Sorry, kid."

"Yeah..." Gaara took the pill and wished for its affects to be instant. They weren't. He still felt the anger coursing through his body at a rapid speed. He wanted to calm down, he really did.

Then he started hearing the whispering of Shukaku and he covered his ears.

"Gaara." Kakashi put his hands on Gaara's shoulders. "Gaara, it's okay. Breathe. I'm here. I'm with you." Kakashi said gently and Gaara tried his best but it was really difficult. "Do you want a Xanax?" Gaara looked up at Kakashi with a mix of emotions. Eventually he nodded and Kakashi got up to grab him one.

_You're holding off the inevitable, my dear._

Gaara frowned at the voice in his head but couldn't think of any way to get rid of it besides putting himself under his medication. Hopefully when he woke up, he would be better.

***

"I'm worried about him." Kakashi said with his arms crossed. By this point, Gaara had been asleep for 9 hours. Tomorrow was New Years Eve and Kakashi and Guy weren't even sure if they should have their party. Gaara was doing terribly. It didn't help that he didn't have an appointment with Obito nearly all month. 

"Call his doctor." Guy said seriously. Kakashi knew Guy was worried if he wanted Kakashi to actually talk to Obito. "Something is clearly wrong."

"Yeah... Yeah I was thinking about it." Kakashi agreed and grabbed his phone. Lee was in town but they didn't know where he was. He was avoiding the house though, they wondered if him and Gaara had another falling out or not. It was unlike Lee to not be here when Gaara was.

"Obito, hey. It's Kakashi."

"I know who it is, I have caller ID." Obito said with a chuckle. "What can I do for you?"

"Gaara is acting..." Kakashi couldn't find the word for it. He just trailed off.

"I was afraid that would happen. Has he forgotten his medication?"

"I think so. Ino was really worried about him. I had to give him a Xanax. I didn't want to but he was acting like... like Shukaku or something. He was really angry. He's been sleeping for 9 hours." Obito made a noise on the other line.

"Do you want me to come over to talk to him?"

"I wouldn't want to impose on you like that, Tobi." Kakashi said, momentarily forgetting that he hadn't called his friend that in quite some time. Obito chuckled on the other side.

"Okay. I'll be there soon. Just text me your address."

"Thank you, Tobi."

"Yeah, yeah." Obito hung up the phone and Kakashi sighed and turned to Guy.

"He should be here, I hope you don't mind." Kakashi said softly and Guy shrugged.

"Whatever is best for Gaara, honestly. I just want to see him better, you know that, Rival." Guy looked incredibly pensive.

"What are you thinking about?" Guy sighed.

"I'm just... I thought maybe he would be better after we adopted him. I guess the trial was harder on him than we thought. He isn't himself anymore. I'm worried about him. What if this was all for naught?" Kakashi shook his head.

"It wasn't, Guy. You know that." He whispered. "Now... why don't you go ahead and start your vow renewal planning." Guy glanced up at Kakashi curiously.

"You must feel incredibly sorry for me if you're letting me choose things for our vow renewal party." He commented and Kakashi smiled at him softly.

"I want you happy. You seem to like showing me off to people for some reason, so I figured this is the best way. You take over the party." Guy smiled at his husband and held the sides of his head and kissed him tenderly.

"I like showing you off because I can't believe a man like me landed someone as incredible as you." Guy said with the upmost conviction, his expression oozing sincerity. 

"I think I'm the lucky one in this equation, Guy. Can you imagine what would happen if I said no all those years ago?" Kakashi asked with a smile. 

"Don't even make me think of a life without you in it, rival." Guy said softly and hugged Kakashi tightly, gripping his fingers in his partner's gray hair. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Guy."

***

"Hey, Lee." Sasuke glanced over at his friend. Right now him, Naruto, Lee, and Neji were all sitting in the basement of Sasuke's house. "Do you remember Kisame?" Lee's eyes lit up at the name and he frowned all at the same time.

"Of course I remember my big brother." Neji looked curiously at Lee. 

"I didn't know you had a brother." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"For a while my dads were foster parents. They stopped after Kisame though. They could not handle the heartbreak after that."

"Why did Kisame move in with you guys?" He asked and Lee shrugged.

"I do not know too many details, I was very young so I was not told very much. He had a difficult home situation, I know that. They moved him in with us and he was really mean at first. He was 15 and my dads said he was just upset because he did not know what was going on in his life anymore. He came with all of his clothes in a garbage bag. Just one. He stood in our kitchen for a while but Kakashi and my dad took him to where Gaara is staying now. That was his room for a year. It took a few months but he warmed up to us and he was awesome. We would fight in the dojo, he would teach me how to swordfight, with sticks though because we could not afford swords. He was really obsessed with them though. He was actually very close with Itachi..." Lee looked up at Sasuke. "Why did you remember Kisame? Did Itachi say something?"

"He's shampooing the carpets." Naruto said flatly. "The only other time he did that was after Kisame was gone. We figured something happened with Itachi and Gaara." Lee looked upset. Gaara had a falling out with Itachi too? What would happen now that he's by himself at home? 

"What happened to him?" Neji asked finally and Lee's shoulders sagged and he leaned into the couch.

"My dads wanted to adopt him and he was happy. But his parents fought for him. They were not good people though so he was scared that they would win. And they did. They usually side with the biological parents. So Kisame was sent back to live with his family. Last we heard he got into a bad accident and nothing since then. I don't like talking about him. It makes me sad. I miss him."

"We have this picture." Sasuke said and pulled out the photo album and handed Lee the picture of Kisame giving him a piggyback ride. Lee smiled with a bittersweet expression and showed the picture to Neji.

"This is Kisame." Neji took the picture and examined it. 

"I'm sure he was a fantastic older brother." Neji said honestly and Lee nodded and held onto the picture. He wanted to keep it.

"Do you mind?" Lee asked and Sasuke shook his head. It was a picture of Lee, after all. "I hope you do not mind, but I need to go home. If Gaara is fighting with Itachi, he is likely not in a happy mood so I need to check on him."

"Let's go then." Neji said and raised from the couch. He waved goodbye to Sasuke and Naruto and the two headed to Lee's home.

***

Lee walked into pure chaos when he opened the door. He heard a laugh and paused.

"Was that... Gaara?" Neji asked slowly and Lee shook his head.

"Uh. Maybe we should go..." Unfortunately for them, everyone was in the living room so they were heard.

"Is this who I think it is?" A voice said with a chuckle. 

"Gaara-"

"Shukaku." Lee said with a deep frown. "What are you doing here?"

"What? I can't see my beloved?" He asked with heavy sarcasm.

"Shukaku, please, we were in the middle of-" Lee saw an older man. He had a resemblance to Sasuke and Itachi. Who was this?

"Not now, doc. I have something far more interesting to discuss." Shukaku took a step towards them and Kakashi grabbed Shukaku's arm and stopped him. Shukaku scowled and glanced over his shoulder.

"Listen here, you may be good to Gaara, and I'm super duper thankful and all, but if you don't remove your hand, I will rip it off." Shukaku said darkly and Neji stared at everything in morbid fascination. 

"What happened? Why is he like this?" Lee asked suddenly.

"He's off his medication." Obito said in a scolding tone. "I'm Dr. Uchiha, by the way. Gaara's doctor." Obito introduced. 

"I'm-"

"Lee. And that's Neji. I know Gaara talks about you." Obito said, semi-dismissively. He was in the process of trying to figure out how to deal with Shukaku. "I don't know how to calm him down." Obito admitted. "I haven't figured it out yet. He seems high strung though.

"Have you tried Ino?" Lee offered and Shukaku's head snapped towards Lee's direction.

"Ino?" Neji scoffed and Shukaku hissed.

"Do you have a problem with Ino?"

"Shukaku likes Ino so..." Lee whispered and Obito sighed.

"I'd rather not drag her into this." He said seriously and the door opened. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What's going on?" Ino asked innocently.

"What a fucking coincidence. We were going to call you." Neji said with a sigh. "Shukaku has been dying to see you."

"Shukaku?" She took a few steps in and saw Shukaku grinning devilishly at her. "Oh." She now realized the problem. "Um, Shukaku, why are you here?"

"What? Gaara gets to walk around all the time but I take 10 minutes to myself and I'm the bad guy?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm gone."

"Wha-" In one swift movement, Shukaku flipped Kakashi over his shoulder and sprinted out of the house using the porch door to his side. Ino scrambled after him but it was hard to keep up. Shukaku had a serious amount of energy.

Lee was right behind her and after that was Neji. Lee was extremely fast and he almost instantly caught up with Shukaku. Neji stopped Ino with his arm and Ino nearly toppled on him and she glared. They stared as Lee tackled Shukaku to the ground and they were wrestling it seemed.

"What the hell..." Ino whispered.

"How?" Neji was confused to see that Shukaku was winning. Lee was clearly stronger. Was he holding back? "Lee! Don't hold back! Don't get your ass kicked!" Neji called and Shukaku smirked over Lee's body, straddling Lee's hips. They were far enough away that Neji couldn't hear what they were saying and everything they could see was skewed. 

"Hear that? He wants you to fight back." Shukaku chuckled and grabbed Lee's face and smooshed it. "If only he knew..." Shukaku purred and Lee's face burned. "It doesn't matter who's in control does it? You like his body, is that why you're so hard?" He teased and Lee sputtered but didn't say anything "I'm flattered, but you aren't my type."

"Let Gaara come back. Please." Shukaku glared at him.

"So you can hurt him again? Please. Like I'd let you near him. You're the reason he's like this." Lee blinked. Was he? Was it all his fault?

"Please Gaara. Come back. I know you're stronger willed than Shukaku." Shukaku scowled and Lee pushed him off and pinned Shukaku to the ground. "Gaara! I know you're there!" Lee was yelling and soon after, Neji and Ino ran over now that Shukaku was detained enough. Lee was grateful that in his position, no one could see that he was embarrassingly excited.

"You bore me." Shukaku scowled and suddenly he was out. Lee fell backwards and hugged his knees. 

"Lee is everything okay?" Neji asked and Lee shook his head.

"It's my fault!" He said hysterically.

"No it's not. Shukaku is a drama queen." Ino scoffed and Obito ran over and sighed.

"What happened?"

"Lee yelled at him and Shukaku gave up I guess." Ino said and Lee looked up pitifully at Obito.

"Let's get him inside-" no sooner did Obito say that, when Gaara started to stir. "Gaara? You're up already?"

"Why the hell am I out here?" Gaara grumbled and looked to see Ino, Lee, Neji, Obito, and now Kakashi and Guy were running towards them. "What happened?" He stiffened and Kakashi fell down to his knees and hugged Gaara.

"Nothing, you're fine."

"Why are you lying to me? What did I do?" Gaara asked seriously and Kakashi smiled at him. "Shukaku just decided to say hello but no one is hurt." He eased Gaara's tension. "Come on, let's get inside." Kakashi ushered and all of them went inside and Ino couldn't help but feel strange at the way Gaara was staring at her.

"What's your problem?" Neji asked her and she looked to him and forced a grin.

"Nothing. Just thinking." She said with a laugh and he gave her a look and scoffed, walking faster. 

Ino continued to stare at Gaara's form and wondered exactly what was going on in her best friend's mind and how long it had been going on. She felt terrible she didn't notice it before, but now that she saw, she didn't want to let him out of her sight.

So why was he creeping her out right now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, sorry again for my bad mood lol. I hope you enjoyed, and don't worry things should be lighting up soon. We have some new characters to introduce and a time skip. I'm happy about it. So I'd like to have Gaara in college within the next 6 chapters. Let's hope!
> 
> 1) Were you surprised to learn about Kisame?  
> 2) Should Hizashi come to New Years or should I torture Ino with it longer?  
> 3) When should Kakashi and Guy set the date for their vow renewal?  
> 4) Where do you think Gaara is going to go to college?
> 
> Also! I have a new story with **Lollipopgang71**!! It's called Bad Romance. It's mainly the Akatsuki, JirOroTsu and Kakagai. It's an AU, check it out please! I'd love some feedback on if it's worth continuing. Please let me know! (It may even help with my bad mood... my bad mood that has made me not update 3 days this week. I usually update once a day... I'm sure you get the picture. :P)


	76. Chapter 76

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while. I wasn't really feeling up to writing it. I got some inspiration with the characters though. Again, it's been almost a week, I spoil you all too much to do this to you.
> 
> I'm sorry. lol
> 
> Also!!! With my question "where do you think Gaara is going to college" a lot of you said Culinary school which is an obvious WRONG answer. If you remember last New Years, he told Itachi he specifically wouldn't go for Culinary since he knew how to do it already and it would be a waste of time. FOR SHAME, GUYS lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Lollipopgang71** : I'm so hype to bring Kisame in. There's so many things I can't wait to do with this story I wish I could time skip but then shit won't make sense lol. SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : You have no idea how excited I am for the Kisame arc. ItaKisa is literally one of my BIGGEST OTPs. (Literally. Like sometimes it's stronger than GaaLee. It's cray) And you guessed correctly btw.   
> **Desbelleschoses** : Because I'm a terrible human, that's why lmao. Y'all get closure, trust me, Kisame isn't done yet.   
> **xoxhunnyoxo** : Thank you dear! We will see our baby again and I'm super happy about finally having him in the story. I did put a new addition to the story in (my favorite baby from the Akatsuki) so I hope you love him just as much.   
> **Vivi** : Me too~! Thank you very much  
>  **Bumblebees_Girl** : Okay, so I know we talked about this specific character on tumblr but I found I wanted him more in the story so I changed it a bit. (You'll find out when you read the chapter) Thank you! I hope you like the chapter!  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : Yes, NaruSasu will be on the back burner for the next few chapters but they'll be back again. It's hard to develop characters and give everyone enough screen time at the same time considering I take like 2 chapters for 1 day. There actually is a ShikaTema wedding coming up in the story so you'll get that. Thank you for your concern with my wellbeing, I'm alright. Just had writer's block and got a bit sad but I'm better now I think.  
>  **animefanxlove** : ikr? I love him. He's literally in my top 5 favorite characters. It goes Gaara-Lee-Itachi-Kisame-Hidan (Then Deidara if you were wondering lol)  
>  **Halpmehpls7580** : I'm happy to hear from you my dear! It's good to see you're alive and well! Don't worry me like that! Seriously though, take your time. I hope you'll get better and all. <3 much love darlin'

Chapter Seventy-Six:

Despite everything that happened, people were surprisingly compliant with giving Gaara personal space. He decided he didn't want to be around everyone and excused himself to his bedroom. Ino was unnerved but she couldn't say much else about it. Kakashi and Guy ensured her that he would be fine and he just needed to relax by himself.

Lee was reluctant to leave. He wanted to talk to Gaara but he was told specifically not to. 

Lee felt a strange sense of anxiety knowing that right now not only was Gaara fighting with him, but also Itachi. Itachi would be the first person he'd call for help with Gaara but he wasn't sure if that was a good idea. Plus, Gaara made sure not to even make eye contact with Lee.

Finally, Lee sighed and decided to stay in his room. Neji followed him and Ino stared up at them with a frown. She left shortly after.

***

Aqua colored eyes examined every inch he could see in his room from where he stood. Everything was put in a specific place to help ease Gaara's anxiety. However, now it made it worse. 

The red head looked at the door and made sure to lock it and slowly opened his window. He climbed out and stood on the roof outside his window and was able to jump down off the roof without too many issues. He glanced back up and saw movement behind the curtains in Lee's room and scowled.

He continued to walk.

It was late. Real late, he honestly shouldn't be out. Plus he just had a long sleeved sweater on. Nothing to really keep him warm, but he still continued to walk through the woods. He was at peace being alone like this. No one understood, he needed to be alone sometimes. He needed to take control to be alone. 

He never saw the woods behind their house as an imposing force. He was never worried about it. It was hard to get under his skin, but there was a noise that certainly set his body on edge. He faltered his steps but found himself more curious than anything. He continued on. 

As he got closer to the source of the noise he realized that it wasn't an animal, it was a person. They were laughing. Loudly. There was something strange about this laughter though. It was crazed more than anything. Somehow, a smirk spread across his chapped lips and he continued on through the woods in order to find the source of the laughter.

The voices were as clear as day. He found himself drawn to the laughter more and more. There were two of them. One was clearly younger with the way he spoke, one was older, his voice was more gruff.

"Oh shit, we got company." The younger one pointed and watched the red head stand on a tree stump overlooking the area with crossed arms and an unimpressed look. "Who the fuck are you?" 

"Does it matter? He's seen too much." The older one said. Looking around the site, he could tell there was definitely something going on here. Somehow the thought didn't bother him. He calmly got off the stump and sat on it instead and continued to look at the two of them, ignoring the person who was lying in a strange circle and very clearly dying.

"Man this kid is fucking freaking me out." 

"What's your name?" 

"Gaara." The name sounded foreign on his lips. The elder man smirked behind the mask he wore.

"That's okay, you don't have to give us your real name." 

"You two are killers I take it." The amount of indifference he portrayed was putting the white haired one on edge.

"What's it to you?" 

"Just curious is all." He said simply and continued to look at them. "What are your names?"

"We aren't dumb enough to give you our names." The older one said flatly and watched as the red head chuckled.

"What does it matter? You said I've seen too much anyway. Aren't you going to kill me?" The way he said it was a tease. As if he didn't care if they killed him either way. He stood up. "In any case, this place is usually closed down this time of year for hunting." He stood up and glanced at the dead body in front of them. "The hunters bring dogs. They'll be able to sniff him out if you don't dispose of him properly." He began to walk and paused again. "If I go west, I'll be brought back into town." He mused outloud. "If I go south, I'll be brought to the pig farm. Shame the farmer is feeding them less lately. I'm sure they're hungry." 

The two killers exchanged curious glances and watched the red head walk off.

They let him go.

***

When Gaara woke up the next day he felt funny. He rubbed his face and felt the strange sensation of being watched. He blinked in order to clear the sleep from his eyes and looked up. Two men stood over him and for whatever reason Gaara couldn't bring himself to be scared by them.

"Hey kid." The gray haired one said with a smirk. "You were right."

"What?" Gaara's voice was thick with sleep.

"About the farm?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gaara said honestly but the man just grinned and winked at him.

"Of course you don't." The man helped him to his feet and Gaara mumbled a thanks. "What are you doing out here, kid?"

"You call him kid as though you aren't only 21." The elder man said and the silver-haired man glared at him.

"Shut the fuck up, old man." Gaara decided to play along with whatever was going on since he clearly didn't remember. He sighed at the realization that Shukaku had free reign over his body since yesterday afternoon. He wondered if anyone noticed he was gone. "Come with us, kid."

For whatever reason, Gaara went with them. There was a part of him that told him not to, that they could try to kill him, but the much bigger part of him coaxed him down into thinking that maybe death wasn't so bad. 

"My name is Hidan. Say, do you have a religion?" The gray haired one asked with a grin.

"Oh for the love of Benjamin, shut the fuck up, Hidan." Gaara wondered who this Benjamin was as he watched the two bicker with mild curiosity.

"Hey! I'm just fucking saying that Jashin is a better god than your money, Kakuzu." 

"It's your god that got us into this mess, you damn zealot."

"MY GOD? No! This was all you! If you didn't care about your damn money-" Hidan showed serious restraint as he took a deep breath and glared. "We have company. I'll chew your ass out later, old man."

"I look forward to it." Kakuzu said dryly.

"Hey wait a minute." Hidan paused and got extremely close to Gaara's face. "I know you from somewhere."

"It's the kid from the trial that just happened." Kakuzu said simply and Hidan's eyes grazed over Gaara's face a bit more. Gaara tensed under the scrutiny. 

"Oh shit. You're right." Hidan pulled away and frowned. "That was a shitty trial, kid. I remember reading about it. You're lucky your old man got sent away."

"Sure." Gaara frowned and realized they were standing at a car. "What are we doing?"

"I'm fucking starving and you've been out all night so Kakuzu here is going to treat us to breakfast. Isn't that right?" Hidan sent Kakuzu a sly grin and Kakuzu stiffened and glowered at his partner. "I think the kid deserves it, right, Kuzu?" 

"No it's okay, you don't have to-"

"I'll pay for the kid. You can pay for your damn self." Kakuzu said and got into the driver's seat. Hidan followed suit and got into the passenger seat and Gaara wondered if he head a death wish or something to even be considering getting in the car with them but Shukaku told him it was okay. As much as he disliked Shukaku, he knew Shukaku wouldn't do anything to put him in danger. He probably knew these two better than Gaara did so Gaara trusted his alter self and climbed into the car. 

The car ride was spent with the two up front bickering and for whatever reason it reminded Gaara of Ino and Neji. Gaara pat his pockets and realized he left his phone at home. How unfortunate. He was sure no one was super concerned about his whereabouts so allowed these two strange men to take him to a Denny's. 

They all crammed into a booth by the window and Hidan frowned when Kakuzu sat next to him and effectively blocked him in the booth completely.

"What the hell? You can't sit with the kid? He's smaller."

"I don't need him feeling like he can't leave." Which Gaara appreciated with his claustrophobia. Hidan took the answer easily and looked back to Gaara. Gaara couldn't help but notice how strange it was that he had purple eyes. Not as strange as the eyes his partner had. Eyes as green as emeralds with his sclera red instead of the usual white. Why Shukaku seemed to trust these two, Gaara wasn't sure but convinced himself that just because they looked scary, didn't mean they were. 

Feeling like he had a hangover, Gaara opted for just a cup of coffee and some toast which granted him an approving look from Kakuzu. He also had a cup of coffee and Hidan ordered a huge breakfast platter and some juice. 

"So kid, where is your father rotting?" Hidan asked conversationally and Gaara blinked at the question. He didn't even correct Hidan for calling him a kid, he just accepted it.

"Panshaw Penitentiary." Hidan's eyes lit up.

"Oh wow, I know a few guys up there." Somehow this fact didn't seem to ease Gaara's mind. "You ever gonna visit the old man?" Hidan asked and Gaara shook his head no. "Just want a clean break?"

"I'm just..." Gaara's frown deepened. "I'd rather wash my hands of him and be done with it. I don't want to think about him anymore. I don't want him to define me. Crying about it won't help and I'm not big on forgiveness." Hidan nodded slowly and gave Kakuzu a look. Kakuzu picked up his phone subtly and began texting.

"Well, if there's ever anything we can do, let us know." 

"Why would you do that?" Gaara asked, curious. These two didn't even know him. Why would they help him even a little bit?

"You helped us out, so we'd help you." Hidan noticed the confusion didn't come off of Gaara's face at that and wondered if Gaara honestly forgot what happened the night before. He'd talk to Kakuzu later about it. "Anyway, I'm sure you're getting tired of talking about that asshole." Gaara nodded slowly. "So what the fuck are you going to school for?" Gaara couldn't help the slight smile on his face from the strangely brash way he worded his question.

"I'm still in High school." Gaara said and Hidan nodded.

"That's pretty fuckin' sweet. Hey Kuzu, remember those days? Probably not, you're old as fuck." Kakuzu gave Hidan a dirty look and Hidan just grinned in response. "Don't mind him." Hidan said. "He may seem like he's an asshole with no redeeming qualities, but in all honesty, he's also a shitty friend too."

"I will decapitate you and bury your head so deep into Earth's crust that I will forget that your vocal box could even make a sound."

"He's also a major flirt." Hidan said after a few seconds of staring at him. Kakuzu rolled his eyes and tried to busy himself on the phone so he could ignore his partner. 

"So what do you two do?" Gaara asked and Hidan choked on his drink.

"Us? We're uh, freelance workers." He lied smoothly and Gaara perked a brow. Kakuzu scoffed and mumbled an 'that's a way to put it' under his breath. "And I'm training to be a priest."

"A... priest?" Gaara's obvious surprise and confusion had Kakuzu hold back a chuckle.

"Yeah! Ever hear of Jashinism?"

"For the love of-" Kakuzu cut himself off and breathed in slowly. "Hidan, if I have to hear about your fucking god one more time today, I will sew your mouth shut." Hidan stared at Kakuzu with an irritated expression, then turned to Gaara.

"Kakuzu is also a seamstress." Hidan piped in happily. 

"Does he freelance that too?" The question was sarcastic but the grin on Hidan's face showed anything but sarcasm.

"Yes. In fact, he made a wedding dress-"

"Hidan, shut the fuck up."

"Gaara?" Gaara glanced up and was surprised to see Ino and Deidara walk in. "Kakashi called me asking if I knew where you were last night. Are you okay?" She asked, completely blowing the two at the table off.

"I'm fine." Gaara said simply.

"You look like you slept in a ditch."

"I did. These kind gentlemen found me." Hidan grinned at the prospect of being referred to as a gentleman. 

"Oh! Hi. I'm Ino, Gaara's best friend."

"Is that your twin sister?" Hidan asked nudging Deidara. Ino snorted and Deidara's face heated up and he glared.

"I'm not a fucking girl, un!" 

"We aren't even related." Ino said with a laugh. She grabbed a chair and brought it to their table. Gaara moved so Deidara could get inside the booth and glared at Hidan who sat across from him now. Gaara sat back down in the booth and Ino sat between Gaara and Kakuzu on a chair. Kakuzu was not amused by the new addition to the table and made sure the waitress knew they'd be on a different bill. Hidan rolled his eyes at this. 

"So what's your story, princess?" He asked Deidara and Deidara scowled at the nickname.

"Sorry, we aren't close enough friends to unlock my Tragic Backstory™." Deidara retorted and Hidan grinned at him. 

"So what are you two doing here?" Gaara asked.

"I was hungry so I came to Denny's. I text you, but you didn't respond."

"I left my phone at home."

"Shit, that's right. Kakashi even told me that."

"Who's Kakashi?" Hidan asked and Deidara glared at the nosy man.

"Gaara's new dad."

"New?"

"He was adopted."

"Thank you for telling them my life story, Ino. Appreciate it."

"Well you're sitting at a Denny's with them at 7am so I assumed you had some form of repertoire." 

"Wow, that's a big word for you, un." Ino put her cup down and pointed menacingly at Deidara.

"I will literally blow you up."

"Shouldn't be too hard. He plays with explosives on a regular basis." Gaara said.

"Art is-" Deidara started.

"-An explosion." Deidara, Ino and Gaara said in unison.

"Exactly. Which is why I blow shit up." 

The rest of breakfast passed essentially the same way. Ino and Deidara bickered, Hidan and Kakuzu bickered and fantastically enough, Hidan and Deidara bickered. Well, mainly Hidan provoked Deidara each time he could. He mentioned that Deidara said art was an explosion but his attitude was also one too. 

After everyone was done eating, Kakuzu was surprised to see that Gaara actually insisted on paying for anyone. He wasn't going to complain. It was barely $30 so Gaara didn't care. Ino thanked him and kissed his cheek. Gaara frowned at her. Hidan and Deidara also gave their thanks and Kakuzu gave Gaara a nod and Gaara knew that was the most he'd get from the mysterious man.

"So why do you have a mask on your face?" Deidara asked finally. Gaara wasn't too surprised by the question, he was more surprised it took that long for Deidara to finally ask it. 

"Because he's ugly as shit, it's for your own safety, really. Hidan said with a grin and Kakuzu turned to him slowly and Hidan could tell he was frowning under his mask. "What?"

"Hidan, you've never seen my face, you dipshit."

"Fuck you, I don't need to. You're like 108 years old, of course your ugly." Kakuzu shook his head and promised himself he would throttle Hidan later when he didn't have witnesses in case he got carried away and wound up killing the annoying zealot.

"A hundred and eight you say?" Ino said with a grin and looked at Gaara. "You said you wanted to date an older man than mine. There you go." She joked and Gaara's brow raised.

"The only relationship this frigid fuck is in, is with money so I doubt that would work very well." Hidan said, jerking his thumb to Kakuzu's direction. "Anyway, it's been real, children, but we have to go."

"Children? You're fucking two years older than me. Don't call me a child, un. I'll stab you." Deidara threatened while wielding a butter knife. Kakuzu looked at Hidan with an expression Gaara couldn't place but Hidan was grinning.

"Promise?" Hidan winked. "I'll miss flirting with you, princess. But we gotta go. I take it you can bring our pal here home safe?" Ino nodded. "Alright. Later." Kakuzu got up from the booth and Deidara glared at Hidan as he left. "Call me, babe." He winked at Deidara and Deidara's face burned and he scowled.

"I don't have your prison extension, sorry." He retorted dryly and Hidan grinned at the response and left the Denny's. They watched the duo get into their car and drive off. Hidan saw them watch him from the window as they drove by and blew a kiss and Deidara made a jerk off motion and Hidan laughed.

"Deidara, I've never seen you so sexually frustrated before." Ino commented and Deidara's shoulders tensed and he turned to her with a glare.

"What the fuck are you talking about, un?" He asked and Ino just gave him a knowing look and Deidara didn't comment further.

"Shit, maybe if I switch the side my bangs are on, he'll sleep with me. He was cute as hell."

"You wish, bitch. He liked me more." Ino smiled at the competitive side of her companion. 

"So you thought he was cute Dee?" Deidara glared at her but said nothing. "Too bad he didn't really leave his number." Ino said with a sigh.

"Yeah, like I'd actually call him." Deidara scoffed.

"Oh look, he did leave his number." Gaara said and Deidara's head snapped up.

"What? Where?"

"I was kidding but good to know you don't care." Gaara said with a smirk and Ino laughed loudly and Deidara glared at him and slumped in his seat.

"Time to go home, your parents are worried sick about you." Ino said and for whatever reason that brought a smile to his face. 

***

"Gaara! Where were you!?" Guy asked loudly and pulled Gaara in for a hug. "And why are you filthy!?"

"I guess I wasn't myself last night." Gaara said quietly and looked down. "When I woke up I was in a ditch and these two guys helped me. Then we ate at Denny's and I ran into Ino and Deidara."

"You let two strange men take you to Denny's?" Kakashi asked with his arms crossed.

"No, it's fine because Deidara met his soulmate." Ino piped in and Deidara blushed and shoved her and she toppled over. "I'll remember that, _princess_." She spat the nickname in her best Hidan voice and Deidara's face burned even more.

"I will blow up your house." He threatened and Gaara looked at his parents.

"Well, if anything I think they scared them off." He said flatly.

"I'm glad you're safe. Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." Kakashi said gently and they walked upstairs. Lee opened his door tiredly and saw Gaara.

"Gaara! You are back!" He wrapped his arms around his friend. "I am very glad to see you! I was so worried!"

"Lee. Gaara needs to shower now." Kakashi said and Lee unwrapped his arms from Gaara and nodded slowly. "You two can talk later."

"Okay, Kakashi."

***

After Gaara was showered he went into his room where Ino and Deidara were waiting for him. Deidara was doodling on his mirror with a dry-erase marker and Ino was going through his dresser to pick out clothes for that night. She had most everything picked out by the time Gaara was in the room and he raised an eyebrow but started to get dressed anyway. If there was one person he wasn't shy around, it was Ino. Usually he was pretty prude of a person but he realized he must love her a whole lot if he could get dressed around her. She didn't make any comments and looked away while he got dressed. Deidara was too immersed in his drawing to even notice Gaara was back in the room.

After Gaara got dressed, Ino started to blow dry his hair and once that was done, she straightened it a bit so it wasn't as messy. She dressed him in a tan colored sweater and brown pants. He looked at her pitifully.

"Are you dressing me like your grandfather?" He asked and she shoved him.

"Shut up. Earth tones make your hair stand out."

"He doesn't fucking need anything to make his hair stand out, un. It's RED. It already stands out." Deidara pointed out and Ino rolled her eyes.

"Why do I bring you places?" 

"I don't know, I guess you love me, yeah." Deidara said absentmindedly.

"What are you drawing?" Gaara asked finally and walked over to examine the mirror. He smiled when he realized Deidara drew the three of them. Ino walked over and pointed by the cartoon version of Deidara.

"You missed something on you."

"What?"

"Hidan." She grinned and Deidara picked up Gaara's stick of deodorant and threw it at her while she giggled and dodged it easily.

***

"Ino." Gaara grumbled. "I'm bored." He said and she nodded. It wasn't too long before the party started and no one was there yet. 

"Remember last year when you totally made out with Itachi on New Years? Ah, good times." Gaara glanced up at her curiously. "What? He's hot. I can still think fondly about you two together."

"Does that mean you think of them doing the frick-frack, un?" 

"Did you just self-sensor yourself?" Ino asked and Deidara shrugged. "Since when do you care about saying the word fuck?"

"Since you fucking touch yourself at night, Ino, shut the fuck up, yeah." Deidara snapped and Ino smirked at him. "Don't even-"

"Are you moody because Hidan isn't here?" She teased and he just scoffed.

"Are you being overly fucking annoying because Hizashi isn't here, un?"

"Shut your whore mouth." Ino responded and Neji and Lee walked over to the group as they bickered on the couch.

"What are you all doing?" Lee asked happily and his eyes flickered to Gaara who wasn't really paying attention. He frowned at that. 

"Talking about the hot guy that valiantly saved Gaara from a ditch and stole Deidara's heart and eventually his virginity." Deidara's face turned a deep crimson.

"INO!" He yelled in octaves higher than he should've been able to reach. "What the fuck!?"

"Oh shit, are you a virgin, Deidara? I was just messing with you." Deidara's lips pressed together tightly and he glared at her with all of his might. "Oh my GOD YOU ARE!" She hugged him tightly, his face pressed against her breasts. "Oh my sweet child! This is fantastic. I have to help you lose your virginity."

"Maybe he doesn't want your help." Neji said flatly.

"Shut the fuck up Neji. They put your face on unwanted pregnancy ads." Ino said and Neji glowered.

"Hey kids, you have more friends here." Kakashi yelled from the kitchen. In walked in Hinata and Kiba.

"Hey! You missed it! Deidara-" The rest of Ino's sentence was a muffled mess since Deidara clapped his hand over her mouth. 

"Don't mind her, yeah. She's going a bit crazy, un." 

"Okay..." Hinata raised an eyebrow but sat down next to her cousin and hugged him.

"Hello, Hinata." Neji said sweetly and Ino gagged. "Ino, do you still love nature, despite what it did to you?" He asked almost gently. Ino rolled her eyes.

"I could say nice things about you, but I'd rather tell the truth." Deidara sighed.

"Oh here we go again..."

"If opposites attract, then I hope you meet someone who is attractive, honest, intelligent and cultured."

"I'm not saying I hate you, I'm just saying if you got hit by a bus, I would be the one driving the bus."

"If what you don't know can't hurt you, you're invulnerable."

"I'm glad to see you're not letting your education get in the way of your ignorance."

"You should support bacteria, it's the only culture you have."

"You inspire my inner serial killer."

"Okay, and we're done for today." Gaara cut in and Ino pouted at him.

"But I was having so much fun." Neji held back his own smirk. It seemed that volleying insults with Ino never got tiring.

"Don't worry everyone! I'm here now! Calm yourselves!" Naruto shouted from the front door.

"Shit, who invited him?" Kakashi asked Guy in the kitchen and Kiba choked on a laugh. A few moments later, Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi all walked into the living room.

"Guys! You missed it! Gaara was saved by a hot guy and an old guy! And the hot guy-"

"INO!" Deidara snapped, already blushing. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" She grinned slyly at him and Lee noticed the strange look in Itachi's eyes at the thought of Gaara being saved by an apparent hot guy. It was about the same look as what he felt. He could relate. 

"Hey, who's this guy?" Kiba asked and pointed to a picture on the mantle. "I've never seen him before." Lee jumped up and walked over to look at the picture and smiled sadly.

"That's Kisame." The mention of the name got a reaction from Itachi and Gaara watched his expression in confusion. There seemed to be a battle on Itachi's face, his mind was eventually made up and he walked over to the mantle to look at the picture. "I remember this picture. I took this picture."

"Yeah. Sasuke gave it to me. I missed him and he has a photo album." Itachi looked to Sasuke.

"You have a photo album with Kisame?" Sasuke nodded slowly.

"I didn't want to show you because I didn't want you to get upset." He admitted quietly and that peeked Gaara's interest but he decided it was a question for another time. With the way Itachi looked at the picture though, Gaara could tell it was someone he cared about very much. 

***

The party was in full swing and Gaara sat by a miserable looking Ino. She'd been drinking so she was already bound to become emotional, but that combined with the fact that Hizashi hadn't shown up and it was nearly midnight really irritated the shit out of her. She kept looking at her phone. Gaara wouldn't let her text him though. So for most of the night he had Ino on one side of him, laying on his shoulder curled up, and Deidara leaning on his other side. They really looked like the life of the party.

Itachi wasn't with the kids for this party, he stayed with the adults in the other room which Gaara was bummed about. He figured he'd be able to ask about Kisame at some point since he was drunk enough that his tongue was looser. 

Naruto and Sasuke were curled up together on the recliner chair watching something on Sasuke's phone, Lee, Kiba, Hinata and Neji were playing video games on the T.V and Gaara was stuck in the corner with the two blondes that looked like someone just killed their puppy.

"Ten minutes until the New Year!" There was cheering from the other room, Gaara chuckled when he heard the loudest was obviously Gai. It just made Ino slump worse on the couch and Gaara felt badly for her. She was looking forward to seeing him all day. She was bitching that he hadn't responded to any of her text messages 

"Hey Ino." Ino glanced up and saw Itachi. He was smiling handsomely. He must've had something to drink. He hadn't smiled like that around people in a while. Gaara felt guilt in the pit of his stomach. "You have a visitor." Ino perked up and Hizashi walked in the room with an awkward wave and smile. Itachi left the room and no one was really paying much attention to Ino but she was still sure not to run over to him and make out with him. She stood up from the couch and walked over to him and hugged him. His arms wrapped around her waist and he had to hunch over slightly in order to hug her correctly. She giggled in his ear.

"Sorry I'm late." He whispered. 

"I'm glad you showed up." She responded with a grin. The way his eyes softened when he pulled away to look at her face made her breathless.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAFHADGLUFV FUCKING FINALLY. HIDAN. OH MY GOD. HE'S LIKE ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER AND I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY TO HAVE HIM HERE. ANYWAY
> 
> Sorry this chapter was primarily everyone but the main characters. lol (I'm actually not sorry I'll write this story from Hidan's POV and not give a shit)
> 
> 1) How do you feel about my baby Hidan and Kakuzu's appearance? (And Shukaku's murder aid. That honestly made me laugh. We may get a backstory to that but as you can guess they're *cough* freelance assassins. (Which won't really be brought up again if they stay in the story.) Which brings us to the next question...  
> 2) Would you like to see some Deidara/Hidan!? (My fave ship #sorrynotsorry) And the sub question being did you want Hidan and Kakuzu to come back in the story  
> 3) Aww how much longer do you think it'll take for Ino and Hizashi to make things official?  
> 4) I'm hankering to write some smut for this story. Let's start voting for who should have smut next chapter.
> 
> Speaking of smut, the new story Sliding Doors (the PWP based on this story I mentioned a few chapters ago) has the first chapter out. The GaaraNejiLee 3-some. It's some good shit, go read it. 
> 
> Another story promotion. Mine and **Lollipopgang71** 's story Bad Romance is up to 5 chapters now. (We're pretty serious about it tbh) so go leave some love there! Thank you! love you all!


	77. Chapter 77

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Vote**  
>  **Who should have smut this chapter**  
>  NejiLee:|||||  
> InoHizashi:|||||  
> NarutoSasuke:|||  
> DeidaraHidan: |||  
> KakashiGai:|
> 
>  
> 
> ****  
> ****Winners**  
> **  
>  ** _NejiLee + InoHizashi_**  
>  damn, y'all got me writing two smut scenes this chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> **  
> **  
> **btw I love how almost all of you mentioned Deidara and Hidan sleeping together. As much as I would love that, Hidan won't be back for at least a few chapters and Deidara IS still a virgin so I'm not sure how quickly they'll sleep together lol**  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **oxohunnyoxo** : Haha I always spoil my babies. Yay, I'm glad you approve. You got it! Some NejiLee at the end of this chapter  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : I completely feel you. There is no good qualities about Hidan but he's actually one of my absolute favorite characters. (Honestly though besides Lee, most of my favorites were/are evil lol) I know. Deidara/Hidan is actually currently my OTP (Moreso than GaaLee, crazy, right?) KISAME WILL BE HERE SOOON. I'm super fucking excited for him.  
>  **animefanxlove** : If there was a reaction for my stories, I appreciate it being "What the fuck just happened" Gaara didn't allow a murder, Shukaku did :) I love your Akatsuki names (Specifically you got the dough, we cut the ho.) And we finally get the InoHizashi scene everyone has been dying for.  
>  **Bumblebees_Girl** : I'm glad you think so! I really do love Hidan. He's one of my favorite characters so I needed him here. Of course Ino will be all over that with tea. We kind of had a sex scene with them in one of the YBMC oneshots... They got interrupted but they technically did have sex lol.  
>  **Vivi** : Yay! I'm glad! Thank you dear~!  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Haha and you got most of your votes picked (Sadly no HidaDei this chapter. Later though.) I'm glad you thought it was fantastic. I hope you enjoy the smut chapter.  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : I am going to specifically give YOU a warning that there is a NejiLee scene in this chapter lol. (Don't blame me, you've seen the votes) It's one of the last parts of this chapter. Don't worry Neji and Lee will break up soon. Anyway, hope you enjoy the other parts of this chapter!  
>  **Erolf** : Heyyyy I haven't heard from you in a while! Hope you're well! Anyway, that's fine. I won't update as much since my laptop is dead so you won't miss much. Shukaku is creepy as hell but he's fun to write. Hidan's religion is Jashinism and there's actually a whole Wiki article on it! We'll get to see more of Hidan and Kakuzu though so there will be background! I would've loved to get GaaLee this chapter but it would've been hard to do lol. YES. Kisame will be here soon. I've been dying to add him in since literally chapter 40. (unfortunately I put too much details into things on a day to day basis so it's been long and drawn out. But he will show up shortly as I will likely do some form of a time skip) I LOVE writing this story! Don't worry. Everytime I get kind of bored, I just switch perspectives. That's why you don't see much Lee and Gaara lately and it's focusing on other characters until I can get to a point where Gaara and Lee become interesting again lol  
>  **GabrielaTaisho** : Aw thank you so much. Gaara and Kakuzu... huh. Can't say I don't completely object that. (Deidara and Gaara are kind of my ho-characters. Meaning I ship them with multiple people lol) If you want, you can read my other story, Bad Romance. It will have KakuHidan eventually. I do like that ship but my OTP is HidaDei (which is sad because I can never find stories with them so I have to write my own. sighhhh)  
>   
>  **Lollipopgang71** : GUUUURL you know it tho. I love Hidan. I love Deidara. I love Kakuzu (OT3...?) lmao. Ino got laid, damn calm down. I'll talk to ur bitch ass when u wake up and pay attention to me.

Chapter Seventy-Seven:

Ino was on cloud 9.

She got to see Hizashi for New Years and he even gave her a small kiss in front of everyone that left her lightheaded and giddy. She couldn't stop thinking of the kiss fondly.

When the night came to a close, she stood by his car as he was getting ready to leave. She pouted up at him and he promised he would see her soon.

"Why can't I go with you?" She batted her eyelashes prettily. He found himself smirking which was something he didn't too very often.

"You want me to drive you an hour and half back home at some point?" He asked and she blushed slightly.

"You're right. I'm sorry." She looked away, slightly embarrassed and he tilted her chin up and smiled at her.

"You're going to have to be okay in my pajamas tonight." She grinned up at him and pulled him in for a hug. "Come on, let's go." It was nearly one AM and most everyone had left already. She hoped Gaara could keep Deidara company while she was gone. She sent a quick text to him before hopping in Hizashi's car. It was cold outside so she was thankful his car had already been warming up and was blowing warm air when she got in.

"Why are you so excited to spend time with me?" He asked, amused.

"I like you." She said honestly. "A lot." Hizashi smiled and held her hand and rubbed his thumb on the side.

"I like you a lot too, Ino." She grinned back at him.

***

"Looks like you're stuck with me." Gaara said to Deidara and Deidara turned to him with a perked eyebrow. "Ino abandoned us to get laid."

"Ah fuck. That bitch." Deidara sighed and Gaara smirked at him. "What do you wanna do, my man?"

"I don't know. I'm not tired. I'm kind of restless so I was thinking of going for a walk." Gaara said honestly. Lee was watching the two curiously while Neji laid his head on Lee's shoulder. Sasuke and Naruto had left already with Itachi, and Hinata went back with Kiba so it was just the four of them now.

"Word." Deidara jumped off the couch. "Let's go."

"Do you need a sweater?" Gaara asked and Deidara glanced down at his attire.

"A hat, perhaps? Hm." Gaara nodded and the two went to Gaara's room to bundle up. Lee looked down at Neji.

"They are going for a walk. Did you want to see about joining them?" He asked and Neji shook his head tiredly.

"No." He rubbed his eyes. "I'd rather go to bed."

"Of course. Come on." Lee stood up and Neji laced his fingers with Lee's and they climbed up the stairs and closed the door behind them once making it to Lee's room. Neji tugged off his stiff formal clothes and let them be tossed to the floor and landed face first into Lee's pillows, wearing his boxer briefs and his undershirt. Lee followed suit and laid on the side next to Neji.

"I don't understand." Neji said and rubbed his face again. "I can consistently stay up passed 3 on regular school days, but when it comes to staying up passed midnight on New Years suddenly I need to go to bed."

"It is strange. I feel similar. I am quite tired." Lee pulled the blankets over them. "I did not say goodnight to Gaara or Deidara." Lee realized with a frown.

"It's fine. I'm sure they won't take offense. They seem to be busy." That made Lee sigh. "What?"

"Do you think Gaara..." Lee trailed off and pursed his lips in thought. "Ino had been Gaara's best female friend for a while but I was always his best male friend. Lately... Do you think Deidara is taking my place?" Neji smiled at Lee. "What?"

"I think you mean more to Gaara than you realize. You two may not get along right now but he still cares about you and if it came down to it, he would pick you over anyone." Neji said softly and Lee looked at Neji curiously. "I wouldn't worry about it. Let's say right now Deidara wasn't here, you might feel bad if you didn't go for a walk with him, wouldn't you?" Lee's first thought was he wouldn't feel bad because if Gaara told him he was going for a walk, Lee wouldn't hesitate to join him. Was that the same thing? Knowing that if his boyfriend wanted to go to sleep and his best friend wanted to go for a walk that he would pick his best friend in a heartbeat and let his boyfriend sleep alone?

"You are right." Lee decided to say instead. Because even though he knew he would chose Gaara over Neji, didn't mean Neji needed to know that. "Anyway, enough of this topic. We should get some rest." Neji nodded and closed his eyes. It didn't take long for Lee to cuddle him from behind and he smiled into the dark room.

***

"So where are we going?" Deidara asked after walking for a few minutes. Gaara sighed.

"I'm not sure. I just needed to get out of the house for a while. Let me know if you start to get cold, we can go back." Deidara nodded and they continued walking at a steady pace. 

"Hey, let's go to the woods over there, hm." He said and grinned, pulling out firecrackers. Gaara smirked at him and nodded. They changed their course and Gaara lost his footing on a random patch of ice. Deidara grabbed his arm to try and steady him, but they were so close to the edge of a hill that Gaara tumbled forward and Deidara came with him.

As they fell down the rather steep hill, Gaara could hear Deidara laughing quite loudly and for whatever reason it made the pain of hitting random branches and stumps hysterical and he found himself laughing too. They made it to the bottom in a heap of limbs and Deidara was close to crying.

"Fuck, my man." Deidara wiped his face. "Ino wasn't kidding when she said you were a klutz." Gaara laid uselessly on the cold ground for a while to gather his strength, feeling quite beaten up after falling down the hill. Deidara stood up and offered a hand and hoisted Gaara to his feet. "Well that's one way to get down a hill."

"Tell me about it." Gaara said dryly and chuckled again. The two decided it would be best to follow the path from the bottom of the hill.

***

"I love your house." Ino said once they pulled into the driveway. "It's so pretty."

"Thank you." Hizashi said fondly. "This is the house I grew up in."

"Wow. I can't imagine staying in the same house that long." Ino said and Hizashi tried to frown at that but laughed.

"Are you saying I'm old?" He said and Ino turned to him with slightly pinkened cheeks. 

"Older than I am." She responded and he rolled his eyes with a smile. 

"Come on. Let's go inside." She hopped out of the car and followed him to the door.

They got to the house around 2:10 considering they should've been there around 2:30. Hizashi apologized for driving fast but he honestly wanted to get home and the roads were completely empty. 

Ino took off her heels at the front door and watched Hizashi take his own shoes off and place them to the side. She looked around the house again, even though she'd been there before. It was almost a surreal feeling, being here.

"You tired?" He asked and she shrugged. He led her upstairs to his bedroom. She loved the way his room looked and it matched his personality fantastically. "I'll grab you something to sleep in." He offered and Ino unzipped her dress and shimmied out of it while he was distracted, facing the opposite way. "Here you go..." His voice died on his lips when he looked up at her. She stood there in her bra and underwear, smiling shyly with her hair down for once. He blinked at her owlishly and took a few steps closer to her and slowly handed her the pajamas.

"Oh that's okay." She whispered and put the folded pile to her side on his other dresser. "I'll sleep naked." She reached her hands behind her back to unhook her bra and noticed how his concentration never wavered from her for a second. She found that pleasing. 

"Ino..." He said softly, even he was unsure why, but in that moment he had to taste her name on his lips. She finally got her bra unhooked and the straps fell down her shoulders at a teasingly slow pace. She watched his face to see if he would tell her not yet or later. It seemed even Hizashi didn't have self-control that strong. 

She let the bra fall to the floor and his hands cupped under her ass and he lifted her up and brought her to the bed. She fell in the center of it and he sat on the edge of the bed and yanked his socks off and shrugged his suit jacket off. Once they were off, he crawled over to her on the bed and she smiled when she saw his eyes scan her body. 

When she noticed they zeroed in on her thighs she bit the inside of her lip. She personally hated her thighs. Even though she was in gymnastics and was a cheerleader in high school, she still managed to grow too quickly and get stretch marks on them. Plus, her thighs weren't as small as she'd like them to be. Hizashi though, seemed entranced by them. She watched him curiously and he pushed her legs apart and leaned in and kissed her inner thigh. She shivered at the kiss and he kissed her inner thigh on her other leg. He squeezed them, sucked tiny love bites on them, let his teeth graze on the skin. She was surprised at how erotic it felt for him to just be sucking and biting her thighs. He glanced up at her while his lips kissed her skin.

"I love your thighs." He said and ran his fingertips along them. "I always did." He admitted and Ino stared at him with confusion.

"Why?" She always hated that she didn't have a thigh gap no matter how hard she tried so for someone to say they actually liked her thighs, she felt like they were lying. He had no reason to lie, she was already going to fuck him even if he didn't like her thighs.

"I don't know. They're just... incredibly sexy. I'd like to spend quite a bit of time between them if you'll let me." The perverted smirk he gave her made her giggle and remember what a flirt he was in text and she always got irritated because he would never flirt like that in person. 

He hooked his fingers on each side of her underwear and pulled them down tantalizingly slow. She watched his facial expressions and how his eyebrows pushed together when he looked at her in wonder. He eyed her naked body for a few seconds while he took his own shirt off. She smiled when she saw how lean he was. She wasn't sure if she expected that or not but it was pleasant all the same. 

The shirt being taken off was as far as he went, he seemed to lose his patience at some point and sucked on her thighs again. He put her legs on his shoulders and he looked up at her as he spread apart her lips and gave a teasing lick to her clit. She shivered at the sudden sensation of it and felt herself squirming slightly. It wasn't as if she didn't enjoy people going down on her, it was just a strange feeling to be that wet. He licked her again, this time he slid two of his fingers inside her wet hole and marveled how she trembled under his touch. 

Having something else to focus on besides Hizashi's tongue, proved to make this a lot more enjoyable than she was used to. She did try her best, however, to not make a sound. Just to prove a point. He seemed to notice her biting her lip and tensing every so often. Her fingers combed through his hair until she had a nice grasp on it and she tugged his hair each time he gave her exactly what she wanted.

Eventually she just didn't let up on pulling his hair. She was so close. How did he manage to do that so quickly?

"Hizashi." She whimpered. "I'm... close." She breathed and he didn't let up. She assumed he would stop since usually after she finished she was extremely sensitive and most guys didn't want to wait, but he finished her off, not even wincing at how hard she was tugging at his hair. He watched with interest as her back arched and she made a muffled cry out. Then she relaxed her back and he could feel how quickly her heart was beating. He pulled his fingers out and wiped his mouth and smiled at her.

Ino could usually reach an orgasm once and be fine, more than fine, actually. She usually didn't want anyone to touch her after she orgasmed. But for whatever reason she still ached with need. She wanted him so bad. 

Her legs were still spread apart and Hizashi still sat between them. She grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down to devour his mouth in a kiss. He returned it happily. She didn't even mind that she could taste her essence on his lips and tongue. Her legs wrapped around his hips and she pulled him down. She could feel his clothed erection pressing against her and she cursed to herself, remembering he never took off his pants. She reached under him and started to unbutton his pants and pushed them down. He didn't move to help her.

"Are you sure, Ino?" He asked, concerned. For whatever reason he was convinced that once he got her to finish, she would realize that she didn't want to sleep with a guy twice her age but she looked at him confused.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He leaned down and kissed her again. She giggled as his hair draped over his shoulders and tickled her. As they kissed he kicked his pants off and she smiled when she heard them hit the floor.

"I can stop at any time." He said softly against her lips.

"Mmm. You better not or I'll have to hurt you." He chuckled and she grinned at the sound. Everything he did just seemed so elegant. 

"Duly noted." He responded and started to kiss down her neck. He would give tiny bites to certain spots but didn't stay with them too long. He didn't want to mark up her neck like some horny teenager. 

Cupping each breast he gave them a soft squeeze and took a nipple into his mouth. He licked it at first but his teeth grazed it after. Ino moaned softly at the sensation. She enjoyed how he wanted to bite almost every part of her but at the same time he wasn't rough about it at all. 

When he was done giving one side of her attention, he switched to the other side, which Ino appreciated. The cold air on her wet nipple gave her goosebumps. 

Eventually his hands moved down to her legs. Despite the fact that she was already spread out plenty, he grabbed her thighs and pushed them apart, squeezing them as he did so. She took a breath in when she felt the head of his cock brush against her. She looked down, but her vision was obscured by his hair. 

"What are you doing?" Ino whispered and he looked back up. She smiled at the innocent look on his face while he fumbled with the condom wrapper. She didn't even know where the condom came from. "Are you having a hard time?"

"I was just making sure they didn't expire already." He said honestly, his face flushing. She found that to be incredibly cute. "I didn't ruin the moment, did I?" Ino giggled and sat up, cupping his face and kissing him.

"No. I think you enhanced it. You're very cute." He raised an eyebrow.

"Not exactly what I was going for." She plucked the condom from his hands and ripped it open.

"It's fine." She said and took it out of the packaging. He leaned back slightly so she could put it on him and she paused just to stare at his erection. She'd imagined it before but she clearly didn't do it justice. She reached over just to be able to touch it and gave him a long slow stroke. His breathing hitched and that's when Ino realized she needed to have sex with him, like yesterday.

Rolling the condom over his cock, she let go of the pinched top part and laid back down on the bed. 

"Now, let's pretend that none of this happened and you're really hot and bothered right now." He said with a chuckle.

"Oh you have no idea how much I am." His smile faded and he leaned in and kissed her. She hugged his neck and felt his hands grip her thighs and lift them up slightly. She was still incredibly wet so there wasn't too much force on his part in order for him to slide inside her. The stretching feeling was welcomed and Ino found it hard to breathe for a second. One of her favorite feelings about sex was the initial part of when the guy first slid inside her. 

He cradled her in his arms as he rocked their bodies together. Her legs wrapped around his hips tightly, trying to push him in deeper. Eventually he pushed himself up at the same time as he hoisted her up and let her be on top. She was startled by the sudden movement but it wasn't unwelcomed. His hands rubbed her hips as she moved on top of him and she smiled slightly when she saw his eyes almost didn't waver from her bouncing chest. He pulled her closer until she was close to laying on top of him. The motion of it was nice, it put pressure on her clit. She closed her eyes, really paying attention to the sensation. He leaned his head in and bit down on her nipple, harder than he had done before, but not hard enough that it was painful. She made a noise of surprise but now found that it was even harder to keep her impending orgasm at bay. He noticed her breathing changed and his hands went back to her hips and he helped her move more forcefully. 

Ino moaned louder than she wanted to and stopped moving on her own. The only thing keeping her going was Hizashi's hands. He let her ride out her orgasm and then rolled them over so he was on top of her again. He hooked his arms under hers and held her in place by her shoulders. His hips moved at a jerkier less consistent pace. She was surprised at the force of it and winced slightly, now incredibly sensitive. She didn't have to wait for long for him to finish from that point and hated how she felt turned on again just by hearing him moan her name. 

He kissed up her neck and cheek. With some heavy breaths, he pulled away and just stared at her. 

He didn't love her. Not yet. But he realized he could fall in love with her.

And he was already falling fast.

***

The next morning, Lee came downstairs to see Gaara and Deidara asleep, in a heap on the living room floor. He turned his head curiously to Kakashi and Guy and they laughed.

"I don't even know. Apparently they took a walk last night and fell down a hill or something." Kakashi said as he sipped his coffee. Gai was drinking a green tea and reading a paper. Lee grabbed his own coffee.

"I am surprised Gaara is still asleep. Does he not usually wake up earlier?"

"He does but, they were out pretty late. It's nice to see that he's making friends." Guy said and Lee nodded, slightly stiffly. He felt bad. If he was there, perhaps he could've prevented Gaara from falling to begin with. Deidara wasn't aware of how clumsy Gaara was.

"We're going to go out for a bit. Think you kids will be okay?" Kakashi asked and Lee frowned at him.

"Dad. I am nearly 20." He pointed out and Guy laughed.

"Lee, it's January. Your birthday is in November. You have nearly a year to go." He said and put the paper down, chugging the rest of his tea. Lee watched in mild horror and hoped he waited for it to cool off this time. 

"Where are you going?"

"We've been trying to do something. It's a surprise so we don't want to tell you." Kakashi said and dumped his coffee into a to-go cup. "Now we will be back in a couple of hours. I don't know if Gaara will wake up any time soon so you may have to make yourself breakfast." Lee pouted at that. "Yeah, I know, kid." He ruffled Lee's hair, despite Lee being almost taller than him at this point. Guy still had 3 inches on both of them. 

"By guys. I love you." Lee said and they smiled at him as they put on their shoes and coats.

Once they left, Lee sighed and walked upstairs. Neji seemed to just be waking up. He smiled tiredly at Lee and waved in the midst of a stretch.

"Good morning, handsome." Lee said with a cheesy smile. 

"I'm not falling for that again, is there a mirror somewhere?" Neji looked around the room and Lee laughed.

"No this time I was talking to you." He said sweetly. "I am going to take a shower now. My dads just left." Neji nodded slowly.

"Was that an invitation, or...?" Neji asked with a chuckle and Lee smiled at him.

"It could be, if you would like." Neji pulled his hairtie out and put his hair up into a bun to pull it out of the way more. "I take it you are joining me then?" Neji got out of the bed with a smile.

"You say that like I would ever turn down getting into the shower with you." He said teasingly and Lee grinned at that. True, Neji had showered with him often, especially after training. He felt bad, since being home, the two of them haven't gone on their normal runs as often as he would've liked. 

They got into the shower and Lee got all of his things ready on the counter and turned the shower on. Once the spray was warmed up he climbed in and brushed his teeth. Neji was brushing his at the sink in his underwear and Lee peeked from behind the shower curtain and Neji saw him and rolled his eyes.

"No need to spy on me, Lee. I'm getting into the shower in a minute." He said, mouth full of foam. He heard Lee giggle and close the curtain again. Neji smiled fondly and spit into the sink and rinsed his mouth. He stepped out of his boxers and climbed into the shower with Lee. 

One of the reasons he loved taking a shower with Lee so much was because Lee's hair wet looked fantastic. For whatever reason, one would think that by slicking Lee's hair back, he would look terrible considering he had large eyebrows. That wasn't the case. In fact, he looked rather distinguished with his hair like that. Lee would never wear his hair slicked back as he felt it didn't coincide with his personality, so Neji just dealt with having it done when they were together in the shower and the shower did it for him. 

"I have to admit something." Neji said suddenly and Lee's eyes glanced over to Neji.

"Hm?"

"I realized I liked you during one of our showers together." Neji said and Lee grinned widely.

"Really? That is very touching, Neji. I am flattered." Lee leaned in and kissed his boyfriend softly on the lips. "I thought you were very attractive with your wet hair clinging to your back." 

"You touched my hair that day." Lee nodded with a smile.

"I could not help myself, you looked very handsome." It was Neji's turn to kiss Lee and Lee made a muffled moan into the kiss. 

Their hands started wandering with the aid of the water. It was easy to glide their hands on each other's skin with water cascading down from their bodies from the showerhead above. Lee's strong hands cupped Neji's neck and kept his head firmly in place as he licked Neji's lower lip until Neji opened his mouth. They brushed their tongues against each other and Neji's hands moved down to let himself map out Lee's muscled chest. He felt every crevice of muscle on Lee's torso until he felt Lee harden under his touch. 

Grasping Lee's hardened cock in his hand, Neji felt as if it were more pleasurable for him than it was for Lee. He'd wanted to touch Lee for a while. Their occasional brief touches weren't enough to keep his want at bay. Lee nibbled on Neji's jaw down his neck to his collar bones. In this moment he didn't think about anything. He didn't think about his guilt that seemed to grow every day. He didn't think about Gaara. He didn't think about anyone except himself and Neji. He was amazed with how honed into the moment he was. All he wanted to do was to touch Neji, taste him, just have more of him. Where had this come from? He was overwhelmed with the feeling. 

Neji wound up taking the lead by shoving Lee against the cold wall. Lee tensed at the sudden chill on his back but it didn't distract him from the way Neji's hands moved down to grip his cock. Neji sank to his knees, pushing Lee's cock passed his lips into his mouth. Neji's tongue swirled around Lee's cock until he put it in deep enough that his tongue couldn't maneuver around it. Lee was surprised to feel himself be pushed deeper into Neji's mouth and hoped that he wasn't hurting Neji but the thought was fleeting once he felt how fantastic Neji's throat felt.

Lee's head fell back against the wall and he bit his knuckle trying not to make a loud noise. He gripped Neji's soft wet hair to give him the illusion that he was in control of Neji's mouth, even though he knew Neji was completely in control. 

"Neji..." The gasp was soft and quiet but loud enough that Neji heard it and forced Lee's cock further down his throat and Lee shivered. He had to force his hips to stay still, feeling the aching need to thrust himself forward. "Neji, Neji, I-I am close." Lee whined and Neji slowly pulled Lee's cock out and pushed it back in just as slow. Neji's fingers rubbed against Lee's hole and the sudden sensation against his sensitive skin had Lee cry out and Neji's throat milked every drip of cum that spurt out before he pulled away. Lee's shaky legs caused him to slip down the wall and fall to the tub and he looked at Neji with his chest rising and falling in rapid succession. Neji gave Lee a smirk and Lee's eyes glanced down to Neji's erection.

Lee changed his position so he was on his knees on all fours to crawl over to Neji. Neji was laying against the back of the tub with his legs spread apart. Lee crawled in-between Neji's legs and gave Lee's cock a long lick and smiled at the desperate lustful glance in Neji's eyes. Lee's blowjobs were quite different that Neji's. He enjoyed sucking on the top half while his hand stroked the part that he didn't fit in his mouth. Lee had quite a bad gag reflex, Neji didn't have one at all. 

Neji squirmed as Lee's lips puckered over the head of his cock and he was pushed into the wetness of Lee's mouth. The pace of his hand matched the pace of his mouth. In some occasions Lee's pace was faster than others. He shifted slightly on the tub floor so he could get his free hand under Neji enough to slide a finger inside Neji's hole.

"L-Lee." Neji gasped in surprise and his hips bucked at the feeling. With some trial and error, Lee eventually found Neji's sweet spot and it had Neji grinding against Lee's fingers. "Lee..." His breath hitched and made a whine. He finished and tightened around Lee's fingers and Lee looked up to examine Lee's expression as he came to an orgasm. He always thought Neji was handsome but seeing him come undone just with his touches, made him realize how beautiful Neji could really be. There was something otherworldly about him. His long beautiful hair, the beautiful lavender eyes, the soft purr of his voice. Lee had been too busy focusing on Gaara and Gaara's moods that he hadn't had time to pay attention to his boyfriend. He wasn't realizing how much he was leaning on Neji. How thankful he was that he had Neji when he was in such a dark place with his thoughts. 

"Neji." Lee whispered and kissed Neji's cheek. "You mean so much to me."

"I feel the same. But I am very glad you feel that way." Neji responded softly and they shared a kiss.

***

"Fuuuck, remind me never to take a damn walk with you again, hm." Deidara whined when he woke up, feeling sore all over his body. Gaara grumbled and Deidara realized now they were on a cuddled heap on the floor. "Why are we like this?"

"I don't know..." Gaara sat up and rubbed his face tiredly. "Shit, it's nearly 11." He stood up and looked around the house. "My dads aren't here... Hey! Lee!" Gaara called up the stairs and Lee's bedroom door opened. His hair was still wet from the shower he got out of 20 minutes prior. "Okay, you're here."

"Did you need something, Gaara?" He asked and Gaara shook his head then paused. 

"Is Neji with you?" He asked and it was Neji's turn to poke his head out from the room. "Okay, did you guys want me to cook-"

"Yes please." Gaara blinked at the quick response spoken in unison. 

"Alright. I guess I'm making food. Breakfast or lunch?"

"You make lunch foods?! Since when?" Deidara asked, walking from the living room to the kitchen where the stairs were. 

"Breakfast!" Lee said happily. "I love your breakfast!"

"I can't wait to tell Ino she missed out on your breakfast." Gaara pursed his lips at that.

"Just don't tell Sasuke."

***

_**BombAssArt** : Hell yeah, breakfast at Gaara's!! @Hyuuga_Neji, @OG.Rock_Lee @StudMuffin sorry @iNoEverything, you missed out!!_

__**Uchiha_Sasuke** Okay, wow. I am so betrayed right now. Thanks.  
**BombAssArt** You can still come over. There's more pancakes still.  
**iNoEverything** As much as I love Gaara's cooking... I don't think I missed out on anything ;)  
**StudMuffin** why am I the last one tagged? I made all the food. Wait, did you finally...?  
**BitchesLoveMe** DID YOU DO THE DO?!  
**Hyuuga_Neji** Wait a second... Ino... Where the hell are you? Weren't you here last night??  
**iNoEverything** heheheheehe  <3 ;) 

It didn't take long for Ino to tag Neji in a picture. A picture of her sitting on Hizashi's bed in Hizashi's shirt. And Deidara and Gaara covered their ears at the loud scream of frustration coming from the other room and they couldn't help but laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My laptop is still very dead. I stole my husbands laptop and wrote this chapter at 3am. You're welcome. lmao  
> Anyway
> 
> 1) How was the InoHizashi smut scene? I never really wrote a hetro sex scene before lmao. #Itried  
> 2) I'm totally spoiling it, but Kisame is going to show up soon, who do you think the first person he sees is?  
> 3) How do you think Hidan and Kakuzu are going to show back up?  
> 4) How much longer do you think Neji and Lee will date?


	78. Chapter 78

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I still don't have my laptop but I managed to steal my husband's to write this. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have time to respond to everyone since I have to give the laptop back but I do want to say this,
> 
> I used to offer one shots for every 50 comments I got then bumped it up to 100. I've since stopped that considering I get commenters who comment so frequently I wouldn't be able to keep up with the oneshots. So if you'd like me to start doing them again, please comment once! If you'd like to talk to me, you're more than welcome to hit me up on instagram or tumblr. I just want everyone to have a fair shot at winning the oneshot (*glares at RainiDayz*)
> 
> But honestly, thank you so so much for commenting! You guys are awesome!

Chapter Seventy-Eight:

"Neji, are you alright?" Gaara asked a while later after Neji came downstairs from moping in Lee's bedroom. 

"As okay as I can be given the circumstances." Neji said flatly. Gaara smirked. "I didn't think she was serious..." He sighed and rubbed his face.

"Oh, despite Ino's personality, she's often serious about the things she says. It's best to learn that now. And don't challenge her unless you're ready for the outcome." Gaara said and Neji groaned and sunk into the couch. Lee was outside checking the mail and Deidara was molding something with his clay at the coffee table. "We blowing that up later?" Gaara asked and Deidara gave him a grin.

"Yes!" Neji raised an eyebrow.

"You've been making that thing for a solid half hour and you still aren't done. You're wasting all your time just to blow it up? Why not just blow up an unformed ball of clay?" Deidara looked aghast.

"Art is-"

"-an explosion." Gaara finished with him, frowning.

"Exactly! Gaara understands! Hm!" Gaara perked a brow. He honestly didn't but whatever it was a way to shut Deidara up by just repeating what he said. "Art is fleeting, it's a beautiful singular moment that just explodes!"

"Why not give people time to appreciate it and enjoy it instead of just blowing it up?" Deidara's face turned red in irritation. He was tired of this argument.

"If you can't be present for the explosion, then that's your loss. Art should be appreciated in the moment. Everything gets destroyed, you should admire what you can while it lasts." He said and huffed, going back to his clay. Neji turned to face Gaara and he shook his head. 

"Okay." Neji decided to say and Deidara sniffed indignantly and decided to ignore the both of them for the time being. 

Lee opened the door and jogged inside with a grin looking through the letters. He paused and his expression looked forlorn. He slowly handed Gaara the letter and Gaara took it into his hands. The address was from Penshaw Penitentiary and Gaara's blood ran cold. He took in a deep breath and ripped open the envelope. He noticed everyone was staring at him but he tried to ignore them. His eyes scanned the paper and everyone saw his eyes widen. He looked at Lee with surprise and placed the letter down and stood up.

"I need air." He said and went outside. They all watched him leave the room and Deidara snatched the paper up, reading it greedily. Neji and Lee leaned over his shoulder.

"Holy shit." Deidara said. "His dad was killed in prison?"

"They do say child abusers, regardless of if they sexually abused their children are often harassed in prisons. Perhaps this case garnered enough attention to put a target on Rasa's back." Neji said with a deep frown.

"Good." Deidara scoffed and put the paper down. Lee glanced at the blond with an uncertain look in his eyes. "Bastard deserved to die, hm."

"But is it good for Gaara? Did Rasa suffer enough?" Lee whispered and walked over to the kitchen where the glass sliding porch door was. He stepped onto the porch and the chill of the winter air caused his skin to prickle. Gaara stood at the banister overlooking the large lawn. He expression was pensive. "Are you alright?" Gaara nodded slowly.

"I think so. It was just... sudden." Gaara pushed his eyebrows together. Deidara ran to the porch with another letter.

"Hey, this one is to you, Gaara. It doesn't look like it was mailed but just left in the mailbox. There isn't a stamp, yeah." He handed it to Gaara and he glanced down at the letter. He ripped it open.

**He won't be hurting you anymore. In the name of Jashin.**

"In the name of Jashin..." Gaara whispered. Why did that sound so familiar?

"Whoa, did someone straight up murder your father and tell you about it?" Deidara snatched the letter from his hands and scanned over it. "Man this guy had shitty handwriting."

"But who would do that? It clearly couldn't be the actual person who killed your father who left that. It would be impossible for him to do that and break out. It has to be someone in the prison with connections out here or vice versa." Neji deduced and Gaara's eyes widened a fraction. He remembered Jashin now.

That was the name of Hidan's religion, wasn't it? And he mentioned knowing people in the jail. Holy shit. 

Everyone stared at Gaara with different magnitudes of confusion until Gaara felt a laugh bubble in his stomach and suddenly he started chuckling. He couldn't stop. It just came out and he laughed. He fell to the wooden floor and continued laughing. Lee, Deidara and Neji looked at each other confused and concerned. 

Eventually, Gaara composed himself long enough to look at the letter with almost a look of fondness and he folded it up and slid it into his pocket. He remembered the look Hidan gave Kakuzu in Denny's and then Kakuzu started to text someone. Was that all in preparation of murdering his father? They'd been so nonchalant about it! 

Gaara pushed himself off the ground and walked inside, leaving the three outside on the porch very confused. 

Deidara was the first one to break free from his confusion and ran after Gaara. He was the nosiest of the three so it was only natural he wanted to figure out what had Gaara laughing so much. He ran up the stairs to Gaara's bedroom and saw Gaara pin the letter to his pine tree and sit down in front of the tree.

"You know who did it." Deidara said more of a statement than a question. Gaara gave a curt nod.

"At least, I know who gave the order." Gaara said and Deidara sat down. "What? You want to know?" He asked and Deidara nodded vigorously. Gaara glanced towards the door. When he could tell that Lee and Neji weren't nearby enough to hear him he looked at Deidara. "Hidan and Kakuzu." He said quietly and Deidara's eyes widened.

"H-how can you be sure, hm?" Gaara smirked slightly and looked back at the tree. 

"Jashin is Hidan's god. He also said he had connections inside the prison." Gaara responded and Deidara leaned back, putting most of his weight against the side of Gaara's bed. Both of them sat side by side, just staring at the letter on the tree. "Does it bother you?"

"No..." Deidara whispered. Gaara saw his face warm slightly.

"What?" Gaara asked and Deidara gave an awkward laugh.

"I think I like him more now." He said with a sheepish smile. Gaara smirked and shook his head. He wasn't sure what was with Deidara and Ino with their questionable choices in men, but he sure knew how to pick interesting friends.

"What about that makes you like him more?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know... I guess that he went through the trouble of doing that for you. Not a lot of people have those connections, hm. I wonder if we'll see them again." Gaara frowned at the thought.

"Who knows? Life is strange. But they don't seem the type to stay in one place too long." Gaara mused and Deidara frowned and nodded.

"Yeah..."

***

When Ino woke up that morning, she saw Hizashi sound asleep at her side. There were strange feelings in the pit of her stomach and a flutter in her heart on seeing his sleeping face. She smiled at him and examined his face. He didn't have many wrinkles, in fact, he didn't look very old at all. Especially when his face was relaxed with sleep. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He could easily pull off being Neji's older brother. 

Ino sat up on the bed and noticed she was tagged in something after looking through her phone. She smiled. She climbed off the bed and pulled on the shirt Hizashi wore the day before. After she took the picture on his bed, she gave one last glance to his sleeping form and went downstairs to raid the fridge.

The floor was cold on her bare feet but she liked the effect it had on her alertness. She was more awake now and she looked through his kitchen. She had a rough idea where everything was since she baked here before. She grabbed seemingly random supplies and turned the oven on. She then checked the oven, remembering that for whatever reason some people leave things in the oven and occasionally single men tended to leave plastic in their oven. She never understood why.

Hizashi stored several cookie sheets in the oven and a few baking dishes. She took them out and placed them on the dining room table and got to work. 

As she chopped up the vegetables for the potatoes, she frowned at his knife. Did he not know what a sharpener was? She wished she would've brought her knives with her but that was a random thing to bring to your boyfriend-was he her boyfriend?

Ino pondered in thought as she cut up the potatoes, onions and peppers. This was Gaara's recipe. He usually made it every time they had breakfast. Then some over easy eggs on top. They were fantastic. She cut them smaller than Gaara normally did since she wanted them done faster.

Once they were in the oven, she started prepping for French Toast. Again, Gaara's recipe. What he normally did, was he dipped the bread in the egg mixture, put it in the pan, sprinkled cinnamon, sugar, and brown sugar on top, flipped it over before the underside could cook through, repeated the process, then flip it back over and cooked the sugar on both sides. This made for sweeter French Toast, however it was important to keep an eye on the pan. It was essentially caramelizing the sugar and after a while it would stick to the pan. Gaara normally got through three slices of French Toast before he had to clean the pan and spatula to make sure nothing got burned. 

Hizashi eventually came downstairs. She was done with the French Toast and put it in a pan and left it in the oven she turned off but was still warm, while she made eggs.

"Good morning." He said, rubbing his eyes with a smile. "I get breakfast too?" She smiled at him.

"Yes. Be thankful. I can only make breakfast foods. I fail at anything else since it isn't sweet." He walked over and gave her a kiss. "Mmm. Morning."

"You look very tempting in my shirt..." He said, eyeing her. He grabbed the bottom of the shirt and pulled it up to see if she was wearing underwear. With a frown, he noticed she was.

"Pervert." She said good heartedly and he smiled at her. "None of that right now. I made breakfast." She said and he pulled her in for a hug. He was quite cuddly in the morning.

"Thank you for breakfast." He whispered.

"Don't thank me yet, you didn't try it." She said and he chuckled, the feeling of the deep rumble in his chest as he laughed sent a tingly feeling through Ino's body. She smiled into his chest. "Come on."

After breakfast he stared at her with adoration in his eyes.

"That was some of the best French Toast I've ever had." He said honestly. She smiled bashfully.

"Well, it isn't my recipe, it's Gaara's." She admitted and he chuckled.

"Well he wasn't here to help you cook, you did that on your own. And it was wonderful. Thank you." He kissed her cheek. "Why don't you go take a shower or bath and relax, I'll do the dishes." He said and she stared at him curiously. "Go on. You know where the bathroom is. I can join you when I'm done." He said with a smile.

"If I help you we can get done faster..." She said and he chuckled and shook his head.

"No. You did the cooking, I will clean. Go on." She pouted at him but left anyway. She sent one last glance to him and noticed he was checking her out as she left the room. He blushed slightly, noticing he was caught and she giggled and pulled the shirt up slightly, showing her underwear and skipped up the stairs. He shook his head with a fond smile and started cleaning up, quicker than he did before. He was pleased to know, she'd already done most of the dishes as she finished using them.

Once he finished cleaning everything off, he grabbed two oranges and jogged up the stairs. He knocked lightly on the bathroom door and heard her tell him to come in. He walked to the bathtub and noticed she was laying down in the tub as it filled up playing on her phone she smiled over at him and he smiled back and sat on the ledge, skillfully peeling the orange. Once he was done, he broke it in half and handed half to her. She looked curiously at him but took the half of the orange and he started to peel the second one. When he finished that one, he did the same and pulled it apart and handed her half. After that, he moved the scraps of peel to the toilet lid and began eating his orange. She stared at him with amusement.

"If you had two, why didn't you just peel one for me and one for you? Why did you split them in half?" She asked and he shrugged as he leaned against the wall with one foot propped on the ledge of the bathtub.

"What if one tasted better? I wanted to make sure you got to try both." He said simply and she smiled at him.

"Take off your clothes and get in here." He plopped the final piece of orange in his mouth and did as he was told.

***

A week later, Ino, Deidara, Gaara and Lee all sat on the couch at Lee and Gaara's house watching a movie. Neji and Hinata hitched a ride with Hizashi to go home for a bit, leaving Neji's car at Lee's house with a promise to come back. Ino didn't mind, as that meant Hizashi would be returning.

Since they slept together, Gaara noticed Ino got rather attached to the older man and hoped it wasn't a bad thing. Hizashi seemed nice enough, but Gaara didn't want Ino's feelings to be hurt and he honestly didn't trust anyone with her. She meant too much to him. But she was happy, so he was happy.

Since his father's passing, Gaara was in a slightly better mood. It was good enough to form a better relationship with Lee. They were back on good terms again and Lee couldn't have been more grateful. 

Deidara was still the only one Gaara told about Hidan and Kakuzu ordering the hit on his father, he didn't want Ino to find out and freak if anything ever transpired between Deidara and Hidan. It was something Deidara had Gaara promise not to mention and Gaara was growing too fond of the blond to deny him that.

"I have to stop by my house for a bit." Ino said once the movie was over. "Did you want to go?" She asked and Gaara shook his head slowly. She nodded, she knew it was probably tough on him since he had almost no time to be alone so didn't take offense to it. Sometimes Gaara just wanted to be by himself and she understood that completely. 

Deidara decided to keep her company and they left promising to be back soon. Lee bid them farewell and turned to Gaara once they were gone.

"Was there something you wanted to do?" He asked and Gaara shook his head. "Well, I promised Kakashi I would go to the store for him to exchange something. Did you want to come along?" Gaara shook his head. "Okay, well I will only be gone for about an hour." Lee said and Gaara nodded.

"That's fine. I'll start preparing dinner." Gaara said and Lee smiled at him.

"Thank you." Gaara nodded. Lee slid on his shoes and left 10 minutes after Ino did. Gaara sat on the couch for a few minutes and looked around. He was back in school and school was stressful. He thought it would get better with the break but it only brought on more rumors and Gaara was just tired of being there. He wished he could do the work and send it in without worrying about being absent or not. 

Eventually, he stood up to take a survey of what they had in the fridge to decide what to make. Gaara noticed chicken breast and pondered what to make until he decided on chicken parm. He gathered everything he needed to make chicken cutlets and heard a knock at the door. He put his knife down and washed his hands at the sink, drying them on his apron. He walked over to the door and opened it. A man stood there, a man Gaara didn't know, but somehow looked familiar. Gaara was used to feeling short, considering Lee was pushing 5'11, Kakashi was 5'10 and Gai was a bit over 6 feet tall. This man had to have at least 4 inches on Gai, easily. 

"Uh, hello." He said awkwardly. "I... I'm looking for Kakashi or Gai, do they still live here?" Gaara nodded slowly and the man's face lit up. He was quite attractive in a weird way. Tan, tattoos on his face under his eyes, sharp lines on his face, spiky dark blue hair and bright blue eyes. "My name is Kisame, nice to meet you..." He trailed off and noticed a look of recognition on Gaara's face.

"Kisame..." He said curiously and let Kisame inside. "My name is Gaara. Kakashi and Gai adopted me." He said and Kisame gave him a grin.

"Wow, that's awesome, man those two are the best." He said, almost wistfully. "They almost adopted me too, we're practically brothers." He joked and Gaara tilted his head to the side. Kisame smiled. "You're more like Kakashi, aren't you?" Gaara shrugged.

"So I've been told." Gaara said and walked further into the kitchen. Kisame followed him and awkwardly stood out of Gaara's way.

"So is anyone here?"

"No. They're at work right now and Lee went to run an errand for Kakashi." Gaara glanced at Kisame noticing his face light up.

"Oh! Lee's here? I thought he would've went away for college." Gaara nodded.

"He did. He goes to school 6 hours away but he's on break so you came at a good time. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you." Gaara said honestly as he thinly sliced the chicken breast.

"Oh, I'm not interrupting you, am I?" Kisame asked awkwardly. "I wouldn't want to be in your way, I see you're making dinner..." He scratched the back of his head. 

"No it's absolutely fine." Gaara insisted. "You're more than welcome to stay for dinner." Kisame smiled at him.

"That's really nice of you, but I'm not sure I can. I wouldn't want to impose."

"Please." Gaara scoffed. "They'll be delighted to see you. Stay for dinner." Gaara insisted and Kisame smiled at him.

"Alright, how can I turn that down?" Gaara smirked. "So tell me about yourself, kid." Gaara winced slightly. Why did everyone call him kid?

"Not much to say. I'm almost 18. I go to high school here. I've lived here for over a year. I cook and bake and play piano. You?" 

"Uh, I'm almost 26. I graduated college already. I don't have a job. I don't live here. I like to surf, scuba dive, play guitar and ukulele, I'm from Hawaii... I like sharks. They're pretty sweet. I forgot how cold it could be up north and I'm freezing my damn balls off." Gaara could agree.

"I understand. I'm originally from the desert." Kisame smiled at that. 

"Oh, sweet, so we're both hot blooded." Gaara frowned at that. "What?"

"You reminded me of Guy." He said and Kisame laughed.

"Oh wow, I didn't even think about that." Kisame began thrumming his fingers nervously on the counter top. "I... I don't know if I should've come here. I don't want to make them uncomfortable..." 

"You won't. Like I said, I'm sure they're going to be thrilled to see you. They mentioned missing you actually." Kisame perked up slightly. 

"Really?" Kisame bit the inside of his cheek. "Tell me more about yourself. Maybe it'll distract me and I'll calm down." Gaara did notice that Kisame seemed to be fidgeting a lot more. He sighed. He hated to talk but he could understand wanting to have a distraction.

"Um... I like to sing. I was in a play. I'm in charge of the kitchen at my job. I had a boyfriend but we broke up. We're still friends though and we hang out a lot."

"Well that's cool. Is he cute?" Gaara nodded. "You guys gonna get back together?" A shake of his head. "Aw, why not?" Kisame asked and for whatever reason, Gaara actually responded with the truth. "I'm in love with Lee." He said nonchalantly, as if he were talking about the weather. Kisame paused.

"Like... Rock Lee?" He asked and Gaara nodded. That warmed Kisame's heart. He had such a soft spot for the kid, it was so nice to see someone interested in him. "So are you two getting together?" Gaara shook his head. "Well why not?" Kisame sounded almost indignant. Gaara chuckled.

"He has a boyfriend. But beyond that, I'm not ready for a relationship." Gaara said honestly as he breaded the chicken. 

"You sure? I'm almost positive he'll listen to big brother Kisame." Kisame said with false arrogance. Gaara nodded. "Hm. Alright. Well, tell me about your ex then." Kisame said as he leaned over the counter, a foot away from Gaara. "Was he cute?"

"Very. He still is, in fact." Gaara said with a chuckle. 

"Really? Usually once you break up with someone you look at them like 'wow, they're not cute at all' and realize your mistakes. It's rare to see someone who actually thinks their ex is still attractive."

"Oh no, Itachi is very attractive." Kisame froze and Gaara noticed him tense up. "Are you ok?"

"You... Uchiha?" Gaara nodded. "Holy fuck." 

"What?" Gaara asked curiously. He knew Itachi knew Kisame, he didn't know much else. 

"Holy shit!" Kisame laughed loudly. "Well fuck, Gaara. Looks like we're brothers AND eskimo brothers." It took a moment for Gaara to remember what that meant and he colored.

"You and Itachi?" He asked slowly and Kisame nodded.

"Yeah! Shit, he was my first boyfriend. Holy... man, small world. How is he doing? Has he filled out? He looked kind of like a girl back when we dated. We were like 15 but still." Gaara went to the sink and scrubbed his hands and pulled out his phone. Kisame leaned over Gaara's shoulder and Gaara showed him pictures he had with Itachi. "Oh damn!" Kisame grabbed the phone. "He still looks good."

"Well now you know why I said that my ex wasn't ugly." Gaara said with amusement. "How come you don't follow each other on social media?" Kisame shrugged.

"I don't know... I guess I didn't want to open old wounds." He said quietly. Gaara took the phone from Kisame's hands and Kisame frowned, knowing he couldn't look at the pictures anymore. Gaara pressed the screen and held the phone out, it was on speaker and Kisame heard it ring through the room.

"Gaara, hey. Are you alright?" Hearing Itachi's voice after all this time really made Kisame emotional. His voice was deeper. He remembered Itachi's voice after a decade and come to find he didn't even sound like that anymore. 

"I'm fine. I was just going to extend an invitation for dinner tonight at my house." Gaara said, leaning back on the counter. He noticed the look of panic on Kisame's face and smirked slightly.

"Really?" Itachi seemed surprised. "Uh, sure. That would be nice. Is everyone going to be there?"

"I'm not sure if Ino and Deidara will be here by that point, I'll ask them. But Lee will be here and Kakashi and Guy, obviously. If you wanted to bring Sasuke and Naruto, go ahead." Kisame covered his face with his hands. Wow. This kid knew everyone he missed. Kisame wasn't sure he could handle dinner tonight if everyone would be there.

"Sure, alright. What time?" Gaara and Itachi went over the final details and Gaara hung up.

"Why did you do that?" Kisame asked softly.

"They all miss you." Gaara responded quietly. "They spoke of you recently. I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable." Kisame shifted on his feet.

"I guess I was hoping to ease into everything. Seeing everyone tonight will be..." He couldn't think of the word. "But it's fine. I can get it all through. I missed them."

"Are you sure? I can cancel-"

"No seriously. I'm good." Kisame said with a nod of his head. "Gaara, I know we just met and I don't want to get on your bad side, but..." Kisame scratched his neck. "Itachi was really important-" Gaara held up his hand to stop Kisame from speaking.

"I love Itachi." Gaara started firmly. "If you do too, that's great. I won't get in your way. Don't feel the need to explain this to me." Kisame stayed quiet for a moment. 

"Okay." He nodded slowly. "Thanks." 

"Seriously. Don't." Kisame watched Gaara with curious eyes. He was strange. He reminded Kisame much of Kakashi, but he also had some traits that reminded him of Itachi. Kisame wondered how their relationship would develop. Would they form a brotherly bond or would Gaara want nothing to do with him out of jealousy? There were so many ways this could go.

Gaara finished up the chicken and got his pan of oil ready and heating on the stove. He glanced up. 

"Lee's here." He said softly and Kisame grinned. He was very excited to see Lee. Gaara shut the pan of oil off and walked to the front door and opened it. Kisame moved out of direct sight of the front door.

"Hello Gaara! I hope I have not kept you waiting too long! I hurried back home to you!" Kisame shook his head. Jesus, Lee spoke as though they were married. And he sounded so mature. Last time Kisame saw the kid he was almost 9 years old. 

"I have a surprise for you." Gaara said calmly.

"Oh?" Lee's voice was excited. "You did not have to do that."

"I technically didn't do anything." Gaara said simply and walked back into the kitchen. Lee followed him out of the small hallway and turned his head to see Kisame leaning against the glass sliding door. Lee was thankful he wasn't holding anything or else he would've dropped it. 

"...Kisame...?" Lee said softly. "A-are you serious?" He looked at Gaara with tears in his eyes. "You are seriously here?" Tears ran down Lee's face like a waterfall and Kisame chuckled despite having tears in his own eyes with how ridiculous Lee looked. Just like Guy. 

"Come here, kid." He said and Lee practically broke the sliding door with the force he threw himself at Kisame at. Gaara smiled at the reunion and went back to the stove to cook the chicken and listened to Lee talk to Kisame at a mile a minute. Kisame just listened intently with a goofy smile on his face.

"Oh I am so happy you are home! We have missed you so much! It was not the same after you left!" Gaara tried not to get jealous at that comment so busied himself further, attempting to not listen on the conversation. 

"Yeah, it wasn't the same when I went back home and I didn't have any of you, either." Kisame said with a sigh. "I'm just glad to be back."

"Are you staying for good!?" Lee asked loudly and Kisame winced at the volume. 

"I'm not too sure, kid." Kisame said with a sigh. "I don't have a job here. I'm not sure I can pull that off. Plus, I don't have a place to stay."

"You can stay here!" Lee insisted.

"Haha, as nice as that would be, I'm pretty sure there isn't room for me here."

"Nonsense! You can have my room! I am away in college! It will be fine!"

"Lee, you don't even know that Kakashi and Guy want me to stay-"

"Of course they do! They love you! They will be so happy you are home!" Lee was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Well that's something we would have to talk to them about." Kisame said seriously and Lee pouted but nodded. "So, I hear you have a boyfriend." Kisame said, changing the subject. "I knew you'd be gay." He teased and Lee's face burned. Gaara tensed at the statement. It was rather rude, wasn't it?

"I'm not gay." Lee argued. "I'm bi. I dated a girl in High School." Kisame seemed impressed. 

"Wow. Good for you, kid." Kisame was just happy that Lee found more than one person to see what a truly great kid he was. He was so pure at heart. Kisame sent a fleeting look to the back of Gaara's head. He wondered how Gaara felt about the whole situation. Would he be jealous of all this attention on Kisame? He had to wonder what Lee's feelings were on the red head too. He'd ask later. He knew Lee wouldn't be able to resist gushing about someone he liked. It was just part of who Lee was. With a grin, he let Lee talk his ear off about random things, and was just thankful to be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of curiosity, do I have any boys reading this? (Since I'm a girl I assume everyone I talk to is a girl unless proven otherwise. I don't know why I do this. lmao)
> 
> 1) Oh man, Kisame is here! Finally! I've been planning on adding him since... before Kakashi gave Gai a hallpass. I don't even remember what chapter that was.  
> 2) Of the couples that are together right now, which is your favorite?  
> 3) How long should it take for Itachi and Kisame to get together officially?  
> 4) Who here expected Hidan and Kakuzu to just fuckin murder Rasa? XD (that was honestly the sole purpose of adding them into the story.)
> 
> Anyway, if you need to hit me up, my Insta and Tumblr is Smoresies (my side tumblr is Smoresiesfanfic. Follow for Naruto comics and drawings of my stories!)


	79. Chapter 79

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with the fam  
> Instagram nonsense
> 
> Looks like all of you decided that it takes a month for Kisame and Itachi to get together.
> 
> I'm going to make you suffer for the entire month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Desbelleschoses** : I hope you like the end of this chapter then! :D  
>  **GabrielaTaisho** : I'm not entirely sure I can get Gaara and Kakuzu to that point before the GaaLee endgame, but if I don't, they can definitely be close friends. I hope you enjoy Kisame this chapter  
>  **animefanxlove** : I know. That about sums up my writing style. "What just happened?" I do love me some InoHizashi. Watch out my loves, there's two new couples on the horizon.  
>  **Vivi** : Yaaass!! I love him. Lee and Neji was easier to write when Neji was being a dick, it's hard to write him actually care lol but I'm glad you like it anyway. This chapter will be a lot more mellow than last chapter but still exciting (I hope)  
>  **Wren** : Haha that's funny since they were specifically in the story to murder Rasa. (or have the hit on him called) We get some KisaIta lovins this chapter! Agender means neither? aromantic means no romantic feelings? (I know what asexual is, as I am one. I've heard the other terms but never paid attention. Just want to make sure I recall correctly.) And yeah, I'm asexual and I adore writing smut scenes so I don't even know lmao.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : He's one of mine too!! There's a serious lack of KisaIta stories and it makes me sad because the only person I ship him with his Itachi. And as I said before, writing Neji as a loving person is kind of hard for me so I'm glad you're enjoying what Im doing lol. Well Gaara and Itachi talk about it this chapter so I hope you enjoy.   
> **WillowstreamHP** : I tend to avoid SasuNaru in this story since it's so hard for me to get Sasuke's personality right and I don't want to fuck it up too bad but I'll try to add more of them when I can.   
> **Bumblebees_Girl** : Same. I'm glad he's dead (but also sad because I love him in Mama so much.) Kisame is bae. I do love GaaraItachi they're great. I'll miss them. RIP. Maybe next chapter I'll do a flashback chapter... I don't know. I may add more details into that murder lol  
>  **Narutard** : Cute song lol. I actually have been listening to Stacy's mom a lot for whatever reason. I'll try to add a Chef Ramsey comment from someone at some point for you lool  
>  **oxohunnyoxo** : I'm falling in love with Ino and Hizashi i love them so. I'm thinking of making him an instagram. Come on, when has Hidan been logical or patient?

Chapter Seventy-Nine:

"Lee, shit. I'm sorry, can you do me a favor?" Gaara asked, interrupting Lee and Kisame's conversation. Lee turned his full attention to Gaara.

"Absolutely! What can I do for you Gaara?" Lee asked and Gaara sighed.

"I'm making chicken parm and I forgot we don't have mozzarella cheese, I'm sorry, can you pick some up for me?" Lee gave a salute and turned to Kisame.

"Would you like to join me?" He asked and Kisame smiled.

"Of course." Gaara was thankful. He liked Kisame enough and he loved Lee but he still hadn't had alone time and he wanted to be left by himself. 

"Fantastic! Let’s go!" Lee ran to the door and Kisame waved goodbye to Gaara who wasn't really paying much attention. 

Kisame and Lee climbed into the car and Kisame looked at Lee with a grin.

"Look at you all grown up, kaikaina. You're almost as muscular as I am!" He teased and Lee blushed.

"I have been working hard at my goal for a while. I was tired of being stringy." Lee said with a frown and Kisame laughed.

"So. You're going to tell me all about Gaara, right?" Lee's face burned and Kisame inwardly chuckled to himself. Lee was so easy to read even now. He thought Lee might've grown out of that but he was thankful he didn't. 

"Well what do you want to know?" Lee asked as he started the car and backed out of the driveway. 

"Let's start with the simple questions. How long have you been in love with him?" Kisame teased and noticed Lee tensed at the question. Lee started to drive towards the store and scratched his cheek.

"Uh... Over a year, I guess." He admitted and Kisame wasn't sure if he was surprised that Lee just flat out admitted to it without a fight like that.

"Wow. That long? And you two aren't together?" Lee sighed.

"Gaara has... um... problems, I guess? Does that sound mean? I didn't mean for it to sound awful. Gaara isn't right in the head- see, that sounded mean too." Lee bit his lip and Kisame swatted his hand.

"Nah, you're fine. So Gaara has some mental issues and you two aren't dating. Okay. I understand. He did admit to being in love with you though." Kisame said simply and noticed Lee's smile practically brightened up the car. "So what's the deal with your boyfriend?"

"Neji?" Lee smiled slightly. "Neji is my roommate in college. I think you would like him. He is very nice. He helps me a lot with my homework. And he's very handsome." Kisame couldn't help himself.

"More handsome than Gaara?" Lee blushed.

"They are both very handsome in their own ways. Gaara is handsome and... exotic. Neji is handsome and elegant." Elegant, huh? "When we stop I will show you a picture." Lee said smiling.

"Well how do they get along?"

"Gaara and Neji?" Kisame nodded. "They get along very well, actually. They have similar personalities. Neji helped Gaara and I make up after we fought." Kisame hummed in response. This was sounding quite interesting. Why did Neji want to help his boyfriend be friends with a guy he was in love with?

"Hey... How is Itachi?" Kisame asked and Lee sighed.

"Right now? Okay. He was pretty upset for a while. I think he is coming out of it now."

"What was wrong?"

"Him and Gaara, they broke up back in September I think but they've been..." Lee furrowed his brow trying to think of the right word. "close? Like they were going to get back together or something and they didn't. Itachi was pretty upset about it. Gaara isn't ready to date though so he did not want to go through that."

"Oh." Kisame hated that he hadn't seen Itachi in a decade yet he still was able to feel a burning jealousy over that. 

"I do not think Gaara would mind if you dated Itachi though." Lee said offhandedly and Kisame nodded slowly, not fully grasping what Lee said. It took a moment and it was Kisame's turn to flush.

"Who said-"

"I can read you too." Lee winked. 

"Well put the breaks on, kaikaina. We don't even know if he'd be interested." Kisame smirked.

"Of course he would be! It is you!" Lee said and Kisame smiled at him.

"I missed you, kaikaina."

"I missed you too, kaikua'ana!" Kisame felt warm for the first time since getting to this god forsaken town.

***

"It smells delightful in here, Gaara!" Lee called happily. "I brought you cheese!" He handed the block of cheese to Gaara and Gaara thanked him and he mixed the sauce. "I did not know you had time to make sauce."

"I didn't. This is sauce I made last month and froze the extra of. Just heating it back up. Do you want linguini, angel hair or spaghetti?" Gaara asked.

"Angel hair!"

"I don't know why I ask. You always say the same thing." Gaara said with a shake of his head. Lee perked up.

"Oh! Dads are home!" He said excitedly. "Kisame go in the living room! Quick!" Lee shoved Kisame so hard into the other room that Kisame fell over. Lee needed to learn his strength. Kisame glared at Lee with a pout but receded back into the room out of view and couldn't stop his heart from racing. He was more nervous now than anything in his life.

Gaara put the chicken in the oven as he cooked the pasta on the stove and turned to face the front door. Kakashi and Guy walked in and noticed they were being watched.

"Uh..." Guy looked at them strangely.

"You two look awfully guilty." Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Did you two have sex again?" Kisame laughed in the other room and Gaara and Lee's face burned. "What was that?"

"That was the sound of my trust in you dying." Gaara said and Kisame laughed harder. 

"Wait!" Lee stopped them from going into the other room. "I just want to let you know that we have a surprise for you in the living room."

"Yeah, Lee. I think they gathered that." Gaara said dryly. Kisame was dying in the other room. Man, if this is what he left behind, he was sorry to have missed it.

Guy was the first one to walk into the living room. Kisame smiled awkwardly at Guy and noticed Guy had zero recollection on his face. Kisame frowned at that.

"Who are you?" Guy asked and Lee smacked his forehead. Kakashi walked into the living room after and saw Kisame and instantly smacked Guy upside the head.

"Guy you moron! That's Kisame!" Kakashi hissed and instantly made his way over to Kisame and brought him in for a hug.

"Kisame!?" Guy said loudly. "Kisame! You're here!" He ran over and picked both Kisame and Kakashi up in a hug. "OH WHAT A JOYOUS OCCASION! WE MUST CELEBRATE OUR YOUTH!"

"Missed you too makuakane." Kisame said, strained of air with how tight Guy was squeezing his lungs with the hug. 

"You have so much to tell us." Kakashi said once Guy finally put them back down on the floor and he took in a breath. Kisame smiled softly.

"Yeah, of course... Just..."

"Not now. That's okay." Kakashi said honestly. "We are very pleased to finally see you again, Kisame. Please don't leave us for another decade. We missed you." Kisame smiled sadly and nodded. "So you've met Gaara already I take it?" Kakashi said, changing the subject.

"Yes, he invited me to stay for dinner, I hope you don't mind." Kisame looked wary. 

"Mind? Of course not. We're very glad to see you. You're always welcome in our home, Kisame, you know that." Kisame nodded and there was a knock at the door.

"That's probably Itachi." Gaara said from the kitchen. 

"Why don't you answer the door, Kisame?" Kakashi said slyly and Kisame's mood changed and a devious smirk graced his lips. He ran over to the front door, primped his hair for a second in the hallway mirror and opened the door. Funnily enough, it was Itachi, but he wasn't paying attention. He was looking down at the ground when he walked in.

"Thank you for inviting us, Gaara. Naruto wouldn't stop whining because you didn't cook breakfast for him this morning, plus Sasuke. You know how they get." Itachi mumbled and Naruto and Sasuke stood at the door, staring wide eyed at Kisame. Kisame just grinned at them. 

"U-uh... Itachi." Naruto said meekly. "T-turn around." Itachi whirled around and was met with Kisame. His eyes widened with shock and he stumbled back slightly.

"K... Kisame?" He pushed his eyebrows close together. "You're... here?" Everyone watched with amused expressions and Kisame was practically beaming. The pictures didn't do Itachi justice. He was beautiful. He grew up to look absolutely perfect. 

Itachi fainted. 

Kisame had to literally throw himself forward to catch him before he smashed his perfect face on the floor. 

"Ke aloha!" He cried and Sasuke was at his brother's side in an instant. Gaara shut the stove off and ran over too. 

"Is he okay?" Gaara knelt down and looked at him but realized he had no idea what he was doing and pouted slightly.

"Just that surprised I guess." Kakashi said and blinked. "Uh, Kisame why don't you bring him to the couch." Kisame nodded and held Itachi close to his body and brought him to the couch to lay him down. While Itachi was out cold, Kisame found himself being tackled by Sasuke and Naruto.

"Haha, hey, miss me?"

"We were literally just talking about missing you last week you fucking creepy psychic!" Sasuke yelled and Kisame laughed. "I don't think that's a coincidence."

"Of course not. I heard in my heart you missed me and came running up here." He teased fondly. "Man, I missed you keiki. You're all grown up now too." He looked at them proudly. "I mean; you aren't as ripped as Lee..." He teased and Sasuke punched his shoulder.

"I can use a sword better than Lee can." He mumbled and Naruto just grinned. 

While they got caught up, Gaara set the table and was surprised to see Lee helping him.

"Why don't you spend time with Kisame?" Gaara said and Lee smiled.

"I will. Later. He is occupied right now. Plus, I would like to spend time with you as well." Gaara gave a small smile to Lee and they continued to set everything up for dinner. Once they were done, Gaara walked into the living room and sat by Itachi's side and rubbed his face.

"Itachi. Are you in there?" He whispered and Itachi stirred under his hand. He opened his eyes slowly.

"What happened?"

"You fainted." Gaara responded. Itachi nodded slowly then realization dawned on him and he shot up, nearly head-butting Gaara in the process. 

"Kisame!" He said loudly and Kisame put his arms out.

"Kuú Lei!" There was something about seeing that grin, even if it was on an older Kisame's face, that made Itachi feel like he was back to being 15 and in love. He got off the couch and literally tackled Kisame in a hug which was weird for anyone to see. 

Not that Kisame didn't enjoy being tackled by the incredibly good looking Itachi, but he enjoyed it a bit too much. Having Itachi laying on top of him and hugging him made him remember very vividly that this was the person he lost his virginity to. Kisame quickly pushed those thoughts away but not before wondering what kind of noises Itachi made now. 

The amount of sexual tension he felt in that moment was ridiculous and he wondered how he could still feel this way over someone he hadn't seen in 10 years. 

"Come on, dinner time." Kakashi said with a laugh and everyone left the living room. Itachi pulled away from Kisame enough to lock their eyes together. Itachi's black eyes were still just as entrancing to Kisame as Kisame's blue eyes were to Itachi. Itachi had such girly eyelashes. He really was the idea of perfection. 

"Time to eat dinner." Itachi whispered and pulled away. 

Kisame was almost in a daze when he got up and followed Itachi to the dining room. It was going to be a long dinner.

***

Dinner was delicious, not that anyone should've guessed otherwise. Gaara was quite skilled in the kitchen. Gaara got up to clean everything and Lee helped. Everyone else was immersed in a conversation with Kisame about everything that transpired within the past few years. It was nice to get caught up.

Before they knew it, it was nearly 11pm and everyone knew they had to go to sleep for work the next morning (or school in Gaara's case)

Kisame was told he was able to sleep at the house tonight which he accepted, missing this house more than he cared to admit. Itachi gave him a smile before he stood up to prepare himself to leave. 

Ino and Deidara walked into the house and looked extremely confused at all of the people there.

"Just in time for everyone to leave." Kakashi said dryly.

"That's fine. My boo is staying." Ino said with a grin and clung to Gaara's side. He frowned at her.

Kisame walked Itachi to the door. Naruto and Sasuke hugged the tall man and Ino watched curiously at Kisame and Itachi's farewell. She knew that look all too well. 

"Perhaps I can see you tomorrow?" Itachi offered quietly and Kisame grinned.

"As you wish, Kuú Lei." He said with a slight bow of his head. Itachi's smile warmed and he said goodbye. He gave Gaara a look and Gaara pushed away from Ino and left the house using the sliding door and met Itachi down by his car.

"Gaara-" Gaara cut him off with a hug. Itachi wrapped his arms around the younger male tightly and let his chin rest on the top of Gaara's head. They stayed there for a moment or two just enjoying the hug. Gaara pulled away first.

"Itachi, you mean a lot to me. And I adore you. I think you deserve the same happiness you've been trying to give me for months. I don't mind." Itachi hugged him again. 

"I'm not saying anything will happen..." Itachi whispered. "But in the event it does, just know I'm still here for you, Gaara. And I still love you. Just because you and I aren't intimate anymore doesn't change that." The words were unnecessary but Gaara appreciated them all the same. He knew he had to work on his jealousy and the thought of Itachi with Kisame really did burn but not in the way he thought it would. 

Itachi had always given Gaara 100% of his attention at all times and now it was time for him to let Itachi pay attention to other things. 

"I love you too." Gaara said and pulled away. "Now go on. Sasuke and Naruto are waiting for you." Gaara waved and went back inside the house.

***

"Shit! I forgot you have school." Ino cursed and Gaara stared up at her curiously. Right now everyone was sitting in Lee's room playing a game at 3am.

"It's quite fine. I'm not tired." Gaara said simply and Lee sighed deeply.

"Gaara~. You really should try and sleep though."

"Wait, how are we all sleeping tonight?" Deidara asked.

"What do you mean?" Kisame questioned, looking up from his cards. 

"I sleep with Gaara when I sleep over." Ino said simply. "I don't care where anyone else sleeps."

"How about this." Lee cut in. "Dads already gave Kisame the couch, I will sleep in Gaara's bed since it is small, Gaara and you two sleep in my room."

"Awww you can go downstairs and cuddle with your big brother." Ino said with a wink and Kisame grinned.

"Yeah, just like old times, kaikaina." He said and flicked Lee on the nose.

"Hey! You were not supposed to tell them about that!"

"Too bad. I'll survive somehow." Kisame chuckled and threw his cards down. "Listen guys, it's been fun but I'm fuckin beat."

"Aww..." Ino pouted. "Well thank you for playing with us! Sorry Dee hasn't been himself. He's sulking still."

"I'm not fucking sulking you douchebaggette." Deidara snapped and threw his cards at her. She only smiled in response. 

"Aw what are you sulking for?" Kisame asked and Deidara glowered.

"You see Gaara was saved by a hot guy-" Deidara groaned and shoved Ino back and she hit her head on the headboard. "Ah, Deidara you fuckface."

"What will you do about it, hm?"

"You shouldn't treat a girl like that." Kisame chided.

"She's not a girl, she's a bloodthirsty demon spawn from the deepest pits of hell." Deidara scowled and Ino looked to Gaara.

"What? He isn't wrong." He said with a smirk and she shoved him off the bed. Lee somehow weirdly contortioned his body to try and prevent Gaara from falling but all it managed to do was make him fall as well and slam his head into Gaara's chest. "Ow! Lee!"

"I am so terribly sorry! I tried to help!" Kisame and Deidara started laughing way too loudly and Ino covered her mouth.

"Boo! I didn't think he would assault you, I'm so sorry!" She jumped off the bed and helped Gaara up and hugged him.

"Alright, you all are too entertaining. I'm going to bed. Aloha." Kisame said and waved, leaving the room. After a few beats of silence Ino turned to face Lee.

"He's hot."

"Ino NO." They all said at the same time and she glared with a pout.

"I never said I was going to fuck him..."

***

It had been the strangest few days since Kisame had showed up. 

The first day after the initial day Kisame arrived, after school they had all gotten together and gone out for dinner and a movie as a family. Then they went to the dojo and Gaara refused to practice with Kisame and Lee for fear of embarrassing himself. It was nice to see them spar though.

The second night Kisame was there he tried to talk them out of keeping him in the house, not wanting to be a burden but they convinced him to stay and the whole family when out again, this time ice skating. Kisame was thrilled, there wasn't an abundance of ice skating rinks in Hawaii but Gaara hated to be cold. Halfway through their trip, Kisame and Gaara were bundled up on the sidelines shivering and they were ridiculed for it phenomenally. They then went home and Gaara cooked dinner and they all ate while watching a movie in the living room.

The third day they visited Gaara at work and Temari swooned over Kisame and it was all hysterical to see her so flustered. Sure she saw how muscular Lee was but he didn't even come close to Kisame. Plus Kisame was so tall. Gaara could easily see his appeal, especially with Itachi.

Which brought them to that. Out of all the places they could've run into Itachi, it was at Gaara's fucking job.

Considering Temari was the boss, Gaara didn't care too much to follow her exact instructions and rules so when his family dropped by they all went into the kitchen which Temari only didn't bitch about after they put on aprons and headbands for their hair. 

Kisame and Lee were in the back with Gaara and Kakashi and Guy were up front enjoying some coffee. Eventually Ino came in to help out and grinned when she saw Gaara was there. This led to Temari's reluctant allowance for Deidara to stay in the back under the guise that Gaara was teaching a class or some shit she didn't even care at this point. 

Itachi stopped by how he always did to get his sweet tooth fix when he heard Kisame's very characteristic laughter from the back. Temari saw Itachi's face and sighed and told Itachi he could go in the kitchen which he did instantly.

Itachi watched them all for a moment with a fond smile. It was nice seeing a collection of people you cared about all in the same place. He wished he could've spent more time with Kisame the past few days but Kisame had been busy and so had he. It was nice to see him. Especially with his back turned. Kisame did always have a nice backside...

"Itachi!" Lee said happily. Kisame turned to face him and grinned. 

"Kuú Lei!" Itachi's smile warmed at that and he took a few steps in. Gaara put his arm up to stop Itachi and Itachi stopped mid stride. Gaara walked to the bathroom and came back with an apron and a headband. Itachi frowned at them but put them on anyway. Gaara went back to watching Deidara completely fuck up rugelach with a smirk and Ino was giggling at him floundering. Lee was just impressed it hadn't blown up yet.

"Hey, Kisame. Hi Gaara, Lee, Deidara, Ino." He said and waved at them too.

"Why the fuck am I last?" Ino mumbled. Deidara must've said something because she shoved him to the floor.

"Ah! Fuck! I can't believe you've done this." The enunciation on each word is really what made Ino laugh. Gaara helped Deidara up from the floor and made sure to stand in-between the two blondes. They seemed to be extra feisty today.

"Ino do you need to get laid or something? You're very aggressive lately." Gaara said dryly.

"Why, are you offering?" She asked in a tone that Gaara didn't know if it was joking or not. "And why don't you complain to Deidara about not getting laid. He's literally a virgin." She said loudly and everyone in the room just stared at him.

"Ino! Come on! How many times are you going to do this?" He asked with his face burning up.

"It is fine if he is a virgin." Lee said, coming to Deidara's aid. He also couldn't help to make a jab at him. "He had just been saving himself for Hidan." Ino laughed loudly and gave Lee a hard high-five.

"You guys are still on this?" Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why? You'll likely never see Hidan again." Deidara glared more heavily at Itachi then, than anyone else.

"Don't hurt his feelings, that's his true love." Ino said, scandalized and hugged Deidara's side. He simply glared.

"Are you going to fuck Neji's dad again or...?"

"Again?" Itachi said and frowned, giving Gaara a look of disapproval. "Gaara, I told you to tell me if they had sex." Gaara put his hands up defensively. 

"To be completely fair, she tagged Neji in a post with her in Hizashi's shirt in his bed and I'm pretty sure I could make out his hair on her side so he was likely sleeping next to her. You couldn't tell me you didn't see that."

"I'm not on Instagram like you guys are." Itachi said, frowning deeper. "I usually go on when someone tags me or I get a notification."

"Do you have an Instagram?" Ino asked Kisame and he shrugged.

"Yes but I don't use it very often." Ino whipped out her phone.

"Name?" He chuckled.

"WilliamSharkspeare." Ino looked up at him and he just smiled and she giggled and shook her head and searched for him.

"Got you." She followed him and smiled. "Can't wait for you to join us with our shenanigans." She took a selfie and everyone leaned into the picture if they were out of the camera view. She smiled and uploaded it.

_**iNoEverything** Aww yiss. A new member of the group! Welcome @WilliamSharkspeare I'm sure you'll fit in just fine~! @StudMuffin @Uchiha_Itachi @BombAssArt @O.G.Rock_Lee_

_***Uchiha_Sasuke** What the fuck??? You're giving cooking lessons and I'm not there???  
 ***BitchesLoveMe** So instead of hanging out with me, you just replace me? Nice. I'm hurt, Ino.  
 ***LavenderSun** Aw! You all look so happy! We should all get together some time! :)  
 ***NotADrugDealer** HELL YEAH. GOTTA GET #partyatItachishouse TRENDING AGAIN  
 ***Uchiha_Itachi** Oh for the love of Christ.  
 ***MightyCock** Aw, look at that @BonerBoy we found em'!  
 ***BonerBoy** This is the last fucking time I trust you to make any username for me.  
 ***MightyCock** Hahaha yeahh that's probably for the best._

"Who the fuck is MightyCock and BonerBoy?" Deidara asked loudly. "Their profiles are private."

"Whoever they are, they were specifically looking for us it seems." Ino said with a frown. Suddenly, Deidara's phone chimed and he saw he had a message request.

"Well it looks like MightyCock wants to talk to me." He furrowed his brow. "Should I accept?"

"Hell yeah, with a name like MightyCock." Ino said with a laugh and Deidara pursed his lips and hit accept. 

"Alright. Now I wait."

_**MightyCock** Hey princess, miss me?_

The noise Deidara let out could be qualified as a species of pterodactyl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kisame called Guy father, Itachi "My Beloved" and Lee little brother. I can't remember if that's all he used but I don't feel like looking for it lol oh and Lee called Kisame older brother
> 
> 1) Hahaha I'm sorry for Kakuzu and Hidan's usernames (no I'm not) I picture them as very reluctant superheros. Anyway, Kakuzu will likely change his username, any ideas?  
> 2) Who do you think will sleep together first? DeidaraHidan or KisaIta?  
> 3) I feel like everyone loves Gaara in this story (Sakura being the exception but she's mended her hatred.) who should dislike Gaara?  
> 4) Someone who I have been bugged to add to the story is about to make an appearance in Gaara's school. Care to guess who it is?  
> 5) Who are you most happy about that they became a regular?
> 
> I STILL don't have an update on my laptop so updates will continue to be slow. Sorry!


	80. Chapter 80

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KisaIta interactions yaaass  
> NEW STUDENT  
> InoHizashi interactions  
> NejiLee interactions  
> Big brother!Kisame  
> HidanDeidara <33333

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Vivi** : RICHBITCH I love it. I knowww Gaara is the swetest but I don't want to make him a Gary Stu so I feel pressured. lol. Thank you!!  
>  **Desbelleschoses** : Haaaaa man, I feel you. I mean I'd rock the name BonerBoy. It's just funny to picture Kakuzu-OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DRAW THEM AS SUPERHEROS. I will cry probably. #dead. KisaIta will be so incredibly frustrating because I will make the sexual tension there but they won't actually sleep together until everyone collectively begs me lmao. We don't have Sasori! I honestly forgot about him. I wish I could put Tobi in the story but we already have Obito... :(  
>  **GabrielaTaisho** : I'm sure there's a Master of Puppets song remake with that. I'll get back to you. lmao. I will have to figure out a way to actually get both the most antisocial characters to begin talking so stay with me. Unlike Hidan, Kakuzu wouldn't just hit Gaara up on Instagram (especially with a name like BonerBoy lmfao) I know! But like I said before everyone loves Gaara in this story and I didn't want to make him a Gary Stu! Enjoy the chapter!  
>  **Bumblebees_Girl** : Read the end notes for the bit on the flashback tho. Aw you're so sweet <3 I am super glad to hear that, warms my cold emotionless heart :) Love you too~! I am dying at the Shino bit. And we have seen Shino, he's Sasuke's roommate in college! I do love my dynamic blond duo. Awww you're so sweet again. I'm so happy my stories can make people feel like that! Especially one as long as this one! I'm glad I still have readers lol  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : WELL ENJOY THIS CHAPTER and again, thank you for the sweet fic you sent. My soul. T_T I love them.  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : Kisame calls everyone a child lol. I can't see Kakuzu actively hating someone as quiet as Gaara. If anything, he'd appreciate the change from Hidan lol. I do love Deidara and Ino too.  
>  **Wren** : Ah! So good, I'm not as ignorant as I thought lol. I'm glad you like Kisame's name lol. There's a ton of Kisame this chapter. I love him so much.

Chapter Eighty:

"Hey Itachi." Kisame said softly. Itachi turned to face him. They were sitting in the gazebo in Itachi's yard looking at the dark sky. It was 52 degrees today which was fantastic, considering it was the beginning of January. 

"Yeah, Kisame?"

"I missed you." Kisame said honestly. "A lot."

"I missed you too." Itachi frowned. "Why didn't you contact me?"

"I didn't contact anyone." Kisame responded, not actually answering the asked question. "I didn't feel like I had the right to. I know it wasn't my fault that I had to go back to Hawaii but it still felt like it was. I finally got comfortable here and then I just had to go. I was angry. I already told you how my parents were. It wasn't fun going back with them."

"Is that where you got the scars?" Itachi touched Kisame's face. His expression hardened.

"It was what happened to me in the accident. I'm sorry if they make me look unattractive..." He looked away embarrassed. 

"Not at all. You are still very handsome." Itachi said gently and Kisame grinned wolfishly.

"Yeah?" Itachi smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." Kisame chuckled and eyed Itachi for a minute. "What?"

"You grew up." He said. "And you're gorgeous." His eyes flickered to Itachi's lips. "Ho'I hou ke aloha." He said softly.

"I know several languages but I never learned Hawaiian." Itachi said sadly.

"Why not?"

"It reminded me of you and made me sad."

"I won't leave you again. No keia la, no keia po, a mau loa." Kisame vowed and Itachi's face heated up. 

"You make me feel like I'm 15 again." Itachi said with a nervous laugh. 

"Do you not like that?" Kisame asked.

"No, I love it." Kisame grinned at that and tucked a piece of hair behind Itachi's ear. "Do you remember any Hawaiian whatsoever?" Itachi's face colored and he nodded. "Tell me." Kisame grinned. He loved when 15-year-old Itachi tried repeating the words back to him. It was even cuter when he got the pronunciations wrong. 

"E hoomau maua Kealoha." Itachi said looking at Kisame's face. Then he looked away and blushed. "I don't even know if I said that right..."

"May our love last forever." Kisame repeated in English. Itachi's face warmed more and Kisame chuckled. "Nau koú aloha. Mau loa."

"It's been so long since we've seen each other... Why does it still feel like this?" Itachi asked and Kisame shrugged. 

"I never stopped loving you Kuú Lei. Which is honestly very unfortunate when I'm so far away. A lot of people don't realize how far Hawaii is from the states." Kisame said with a frown. 

"You should've kept in touch with me." Itachi said unhappily.

"I should've."

"Then I wouldn't have had to deal with that asshole who cheated on me."

"Gaara?" Kisame asked quickly, eyes narrowing.

"No, not Gaara. I dated someone when I was 20. It was my next boyfriend after you."

"I'll kick his ass if you want." Kisame offered and Itachi smirked slightly.

"I don't think he'd fully understand why you would show up and beat him up."

"Well, that's fine. It'll be purely therapeutic for the both of us and he'll spend his life wondering what he did to deserve it." Itachi rolled his eyes fondly. "Don't pretend that you didn't miss me."

"I did. Very much." Itachi said and looked to the cupids bow lips on Kisame's face. "When Gaara and I broke up he said something interesting."

"Hm?"

"He asked me to kiss him to see if there was a spark there still. When we kissed neither of us felt it. Not that I didn't feel positive emotions, but he was adamant about a spark-" Itachi was cut off by Kisame's lips. The full and deliciously plump lips pressing hard against his own.

Itachi understood what Gaara meant.

At the time, Itachi had been too heartbroken to even consider a spark. Who needed a spark? Well, this right here was an answer enough. Kisame didn't even kiss him long. Still, it made Itachi feel more than any kiss with Gaara did and he knew he was in love with Gaara at some point. It made sense now. 

"So-"

"Kiss me again." Kisame pulled Itachi in and gave him exactly what he wanted. And sparks were flying.

***

"Deidara, what are you doing?" Ino asked and Deidara groaned, having gone through his entire duffel bag of clothes he brought from college. He hadn't packed anything nice considering he didn't think he was going to need it.

"I..." He trailed off and blushed. Ino grew a sinister smile. "Yeah ok, make fun of me."

"No honey, I'm not going to make fun of you. But if you're that adamant about it, let's go shopping. I'll even take some cute pictures for your Instagram." She winked and Deidara's shoulders sagged in relief.

"I don't deserve you, hm." Ino cackled and grabbed her jacket.

"I know. Let's go." He grabbed his jacket and they hopped into the car.

***

Gaara was miserable in school. There was still no one he liked enough to talk to. At the same time he wanted to be left alone. He had so many rumors going around about him he didn't even know what to do with himself. Some people painted him like this poor child who was abused and raped by his father and teacher. Some people said he was a slut and seduced his teacher because he was raped by his father (who actually started the rumor that his dad molested him is what he wanted to know more than anything) and he was just sick of being looked at like some crazy person. 

Itachi's fangirls were angry that Itachi left the school even though he was going to anyway since the music teacher was back. It didn't matter. Gaara couldn't even talk to Iruka for long periods of time because he was afraid rumors about them would start too. The last think Iruka needed was that.

Speaking of Iruka, he had asked Gaara to join the next school play which Gaara honestly didn't want to do. Even so, he said he'd consider it. 

Gaara sat in the library during his free period to do his homework. After school he had to go to work. He wondered if Ino would be working tonight. He looked around to make sure no teachers were around since cellphones were forbid in the library as they were the rest of the school. He fired a text to Ino to see her plans and in response he was text pictures of Deidara in random outfits. She said he seemed like he was preparing himself for a date and she was super excited. Gaara honestly wanted to know what the texts between Deidara and Hidan said. 

"I'm sorry, do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full." Gaara glanced up and looked curiously at the person standing in front of him.

"No, it's fine. Go ahead." He said and the person smiled and sat down. Gaara felt awkward. Not only was he embarrassed that someone was sitting with him and he was anxious about it, but he honestly had no idea if the person was a boy or a girl.

"Thank you. My name is Haku." They introduced and Gaara gave an awkward half smile.

"Gaara." And since Gaara was probably the least versed person in etiquette he blankly asked the person. "Are you a girl or a boy?" Haku stared at him blankly and then started to laugh.

"I'm going to be honest, no one has ever asked me point blank like that before. Uh, well I'm genderfluid." Haku said simply and Gaara continued to stare. "It means I fluctuate between genders." 

"...How?" Gaara looked so concerned, picturing Haku literally changing genders on command. He wasn't aware that was possible. Haku tried not to laugh, really. 

"Okay well I'll put it this way. Biologically I am a boy. But... mentally I switch between the two, I suppose. Gaara nodded slowly trying to process it. He hadn't heard of that before. Hm. Genderfluid. Interesting.

"So..." Gaara eyed Haku. "You are a girl right now?" He guessed and Haku smiled.

"It doesn't make you uncomfortable, does it?" Gaara shook his head.

"No. Just new is all." Haku nodded.

"You're taking this very well. Some don't."

"Why? It isn't their business. What does it matter?" Haku laughed lightly and nodded. 

"Yeah. That's what I thought too."

***

"Yes." Ino said with a grin. "That's the shirt."

"Are you sure?" Deidara looked worried. "Does it look like I'm trying too hard?" It was a long sleeved crimson shirt that showed his lower stomach and parts of the sleeves were made from fishnet. It was Deidara's normal style of shirt, usually having a high cut shirt or a fishnet shirt. Ino managed to find them fused together, leave it to her.

"No you look fine. Let's get you some skinny jeans, you can wear your lesbian goth boots." Deidara glowered at her. "What?"

"You're impossible to deal with." He said with a sigh and she smiled. 

"They're platformed too so maybe you'll grow a few inches and not look like a complete twink."

"He's two years older than me! Where are you with reprimanding Gaara, he dated a 26-year-old. HE'S the twink." Ino frowned.

"What does that make me?"

"A goddamn grave-robber." She snorted and punched his arm. 

"Shut the fuck up. Anyway, when are you two seeing each other?" She asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know, I mean, he mentioned it but- Ino what the fuck?" Ino had Deidara's phone in her hand, unlocked and went to his Instagram to read the messages.

"Shut your face, you didn't let me read them yet." He pouted.

"They're personal."

"They why aren't you stopping me?" She asked flatly and he frowned. She rolled her eyes and went back to the messages.

_Uh, hi? ... Hidan, right?_  
**Aw you even remember my name. That's cute [wink kiss face]**  
-_- how could I forget your annoying existence?  
**Aw, that's hurtful [sigh emoji] I know you're secretly pleased that I'm messaging you [wink]**  
Sure. I'm more pleased that you type words correctly, if I'm going to be honest with you.  
**It isn't done on purpose. This is autocorrect.**  
Wow, an instance where autocorrect was helpful. I suppose there's a first time for everything. 

...

**_So are you going to accept my follow request??_ ** __  
I don't know. Should I? What are you going to do?  
**IDK lurk probably. I don't have shame. I'll like the first picture you posted. IDGAF**  
This doesn't surprise me.  
**Thanks for the add ;)**  
You really did like my first picture.  
**I fucking told you I would. I'm not a liar, princess.**  
Being as weird as you, I'd say you probably should lie a little about yourself sometimes.  
**Fuck you too, princess. I guess I won't tell you all the things I've thought about regarding you.**  
You... thought about me...?  
**Well duh, why else would I have looked for your fucking Instagram. I should've known it would be some gay shit like "BombAssArt" ya fuckin' loser.**  
At least my name isn't MightyCock. -_-  
**I'm only being honest. You could always find out if I'm lying though ;)**  
No thank you. I'm honestly good.  
**Fuck. I'll get back to you later. Bye.**

...

_You alive? It's been like... 3 days._  
**And here I thought you didn't care! I was given some work to do. I have to finish it. Then we can hang out.**  
Hang out?  
**Yeah.**  
Like in person??  
**Yeah?? I don't have a holographic clone, ffs**  
Well, when? I don't know if I'll be here much longer, I have to go back to school.  
**You seem distressed. Don't worry. I'll see you before you go ;)**  
Yeah whatever. Don't strain yourself.  
**I'll let you know when I'm done working. We'll plan from there.**  
Alright I guess. 

"You are the worst flirt in existence." Ino said flatly with a slight glare. Deidara blushed.

"I'm not fucking good at flirting, hm. I don't want him to think I'm like weird or anything."

"Why would he think you're weird? He's literally inviting you to see his dick, I think we're passed the point of being seen as weird. He's weirder than you'll ever fucking be." Deidara pouted. "Don't give me that shit. You know I'm right. And that's saying a lot because you're a real special case."

"I never had a boyfriend before." Deidara admitted then looked embarrassed. "Not saying that... that's what Hidan will be... I just don't know... hm." He pushed his eyebrows together.

"Well I can't tell you if he's boyfriend material but he definitely wants to sleep with you." Deidara frowned at that. "What?"

"I don't know... I don't want to sleep with him and then just go our separate ways, yeah."

"You don't want a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, I get it." Deidara looked confused at the phrase but said nothing of it. "Do you actually like... want to date him though?" Deidara's cheeks colored.

"No! That's stupid." Ino laughed lightly.

"Aw honey, it's okay if you do. You don't have to pretend to be big and macho all the time. It's okay to want to be wanted." Deidara frowned and nodded. "Come on. Let's finish making you look sexy and hopefully MightyCock will message you back." 

***

"So are you coming down?!" Lee asked excitedly into the phone. 

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few hours. Me and my dad have to do something." Neji said on the other line and Lee jumped up and down excitedly.

"I am so happy! You will get to meet my brother!" He said gleefully.

"And I am looking forward to it very much." Neji said honestly. "Now, what exactly has been going on with him?"

"Well since he's been here we all hung out as a family, me, my dads, him and Gaara. And he's been spending a lot of time with Itachi too. I think they're going to get together."

"Really? Itachi doesn't seem the type to get into a relationship so soon after a break up."

"Yeah, he is not but him and Kisame dated when they were younger so I suppose it is like picking right back up where you left off. I am very happy for them!" Neji hummed on the other line and thought for a second.

"What does Gaara think of it?" He asked and Lee paused.

"Oh. I am not sure. I think he is okay with it. I saw him talk to Itachi the night Kisame showed up and they hugged. So I am guessing it is fine."

"Well that's good."

"Why do you care anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you care if Gaara is unhappy with Kisame and Itachi getting together? It is just, you two are not friends or anything." Neji frowned.

"I don't hate Gaara. He is good company when I'm there. I just know with all the problems you said Gaara was going through, perhaps he would be unhappy at the development between Kisame and Itachi is all." Lee pushed his eyebrows together and frowned. Neji was right.

"I will talk to him."

"No don't worry about it. I already text Ino to do it." That shocked Lee more than he cared to admit.

"You... text Ino now?"

"It's kind of hard not to. She texts me nearly every day. Stupid things like what my dad's favorite something is." Lee felt kind of strange at that information. He wasn't sure why.

"So you two are friends now?"

"I wouldn't go that far. But Ino will be spending a lot of time at our house so we're attempting to be civil for my dad's well-being." Lee could understand that. Neji and Ino were stressful to be around since their personalities clashed so much. They did have an epic frienemy relationship going on. No one got Neji as hot as Ino did, it was hysterical to see. 

"So is your dad coming down too?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. We're not staying the night, sorry Lee. I have to go to my uncle's house for my cousin's party. Not Hinata, her sister. I just wanted to see you and lucky for me, Ino wants to see my dad so I don't even have to drive. Man I never thought I'd say lucky for me and Ino in the same sentence with my dad." Neji said miserably. "Anyway, we're going to be there in like two hours or so."

"Alright." Lee was pouting but he could understand. Neji had prior engagements to attend to. He just wondered why Neji didn't invite him to go back to their house.

***

"Can't believe you're fucking leaving me." Deidara said with a scoff as Ino packed her bag. 

"I already asked you if it was okay and you said yes."

"I believe I said 'fine, if getting dick is better than hanging out with your best friends'."

"Which is the same thing as yes." Deidara hated that he laughed at that. "And you get to keep my car and Gaara is already letting you stay with him. You can see Kiba all you want. Hinata is coming with me though, sorry."

"I'd fucking hope so. It's her sister." Deidara said dryly. "What am I going to do about my date with Hidan now though, hm? You won't be here."

"You have Gaara, Lee, Kisame, Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto." He continued to stare at her. "Yeah, you're right. Fuck. Well, FaceTime me." Deidara sighed and nodded his head. "I love you Dee~!" She squeezed him in a hug. "My wonderful twin sister!" He threw her to the ground.

***

Gaara pulled up in his car outside of Ino's house roughly around the time that Hizashi got there. Ino's parents weren't home and Gaara wondered if she had a hand in that or not. Did they know she was seeing an older man? Not that he would rat her out.

"Hello, Gaara." Hizashi greeted, getting out of his car. Gaara was already sitting on the hood of his own car. 

"Hello. Did you guys pick up Hinata yet?" Gaara asked, trying to peek inside the car.

"Not yet. And Neji is at your house for the time being. What are you doing here?" He asked and Gaara chuckled.

"It's my turn to have custody of Deidara." He said and the front door burst open and Deidara and Ino were yelling at each other. "Well at least we can be responsible parents and separate them now." Hizashi chuckled.

"ALL I'M SAYING, DEE, IS IF YOU BLOW SOMETHING UP IN MY ROOM AGAIN, I'M GOING TO BLOW YOU UP!"

"JOKES ON YOU. ART IS AN EXPLOSION AND IF THAT'S HOW I GO, SO BE IT!" Gaara sighed.

"Deidara, please don't blow anything up in my house."

"Can I blow things up in Itachi's house?"

"Sure. Just not mine." He said and Deidara grinned.

"Someone appreciates my art technique, hm!" Ino rolled her eyes and Hizashi walked over and took her bags with a smile.

"You moving in?" He teased and Gaara laughed.

"Guarantee one of those bags is just make up and her hair products." Ino glared at him. "Called it."

"Can you guys leave already?" Ino asked flatly and Gaara smirked.

"Come on Deidara. Let's get you ready for your date." Gaara said and they got in the car and drove off. Hizashi looked at Ino.

"Hm, so Deidara has a date and you won't be here?" He asked with a smile.

"Yup. See the sacrifices I make for you?" She said cheekily and he chuckled and his eyes looked down at her lips. "You can kiss me if you want to."

"Oh I can? Good for me." He leaned in and kissed her lightly. "Mmm. Hello Ino." She could swoon at his voice. "Are you ready to go?"

"Take me." She said seriously then winked. She loved that he blushed at that.

"We'll have plenty of time for that all week." He responded and it was her turn to blush but she also grinned.

"And I can't wait." He eyed her.

"Neither can I."

***

"No no no." Kisame said shaking his head.

"But-" Naruto started and Kisame pointed at him. 

"Pa'a ka waha." He said seriously and Naruto frowned and turned to Sasuke.

"He told you to shut up." Sasuke mumbled to Naruto and Naruto crossed his arms. 

"You can't go like that." Deidara crossed his arms at Kisame. Since when the hell had Kisame become HIS older brother. 

"Well why not?" Deidara challenged.

"You look like a..." Kisame squinted his eyes, he couldn't remember the English word. He needed to really brush up on his English. "pua'a laho."

"Man whore." Sasuke said and Kisame gave him a thankful nod. 

"Since when could you speak Hawaiian?" Naruto asked and Sasuke smirked.

"It was the first language I leaned for fun, besides English." Naruto raised an eyebrow, then remembered.

"Yeah, right. Sorry, forgot you were Japanese." 

"Baka." Sasuke said fondly and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Well why can't I dress like a man whore?" Deidara asked.

"Do you want this man to see value in you? You should dress demanding respect!" Kisame said firmly.

"I don't have any clothes that say that." Deidara said blankly and Gaara choked on a laugh.

"You can wear something of Gaara's. You're the same height." Itachi offered and Gaara stopped laughing and nodded at his friend.

"What?! No! I don't want to look like a grandpa, hm!" Deidara argued and Kisame rubbed his temples. These kids would be the end of him he was sure. 

"All of my clothes don't look like the sweaters Ino dresses me in." Gaara responded dryly and Deidara narrowed his gaze. 

"Come on. To Gaara's room." Kisame announced and Deidara groaned and followed after him. Gaara jumped up from the couch to trail behind the two and Itachi shook his head.

***

Deidara stood nervously on the steps of Gaara's house. Hidan had messaged him that he was a minute away and Deidara couldn't even his breathing. Why was this so difficult? His body was trembling and it only got worse each time a car passed by. He saw another car, he recognized this one from when Hidan blew him a kiss goodbye. Deidara nervously tugged on the sweater he was wearing. The let him keep his black skinny jeans but he was forced out of his fishnet shirt and was given Gaara's maroon cashmere sweater which Deidara had to admit, was the softest fucking thing he'd ever worn. Deidara had his hair down completely so he could wear a black beanie. 

The car pulled into the driveway and Deidara slowly started walking down the steps over to the car. Hidan emerged from it with a grin. Fuck, Deidara forgot how gorgeous he was. His face flushed.

"Hey princess, good to see ya." He said and put the lollipop back in his mouth. How was it fair that a grown man could look that good eating a lollipop? "Ready to hit the road?" Hidan closed the driver door and took a few steps closer to Deidara. He noticed the blush on Deidara's cheeks and bit his cheek. The kid was too fucking cute. Hidan eyed him and smirked at the sweater. It was a bit big on him but it suited him, style wise. He didn't know the kid had a cashmere taste but hey, who doesn't. 

"Yes." Deidara managed to strangle out. Hidan's smirk widened. "Let's go." Hidan led Deidara to the passenger door to open it for him. Deidara climbed inside and Hidan shut the door behind him. Deidara tried not to let his smile show. "Such a gentleman." He teased once Hidan got into the car. Hidan grinned at him and winked.

"You fucking know it, babe."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kisame's Hawaiian  
> Ho'i hou ke aloha- let us fall in love all over again  
> No keia la, no keia po, a mau loa- From this day, from this night, forevermore.  
> Nau koú aloha- My love is yours  
> Mau loa- forever
> 
> 1) Okay, so this was my first time trying to write a genderfluid character and I want to make sure I did alright and didn't like... I don't know, word it wrong? How is Haku? And after I was begged to put him in the story this entire time, I'm amazed no one guessed who it was.  
> 2) Yay a KisaIta kiss finally~! (lmao like Kisame didn't show up like last chapter) How excited are we?  
> 3) Next chapter is Hidan and Deidara's date. Should they sleep together?  
> 4) So now Ino, Neji and Hizashi are all in a house together for a week. Anything you want to see happen?
> 
> Make sure to follow my tumblr SmoresiesFanfic because I'm going to be drawing Hidan and Kakuzu as MightyCock and BonerBoy lmfao


	81. Chapter 81

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deidara and Hidan's date.   
> Neji is mean to Ino  
> Breakfast at the fam's
> 
>  **Should Hidan and Deidara sleep together**  
>  Yes: ||  
> No: ||||  
>  **The result is no** (why y'all gotta do me dirty like this? T.T)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Desbelleschoses** : lol it's a good answer. I also need them in my life. Kisame treating Deidara like a child makes my life.  
>  **Wren** : I responded to most of your comment last chapter. Thank you for your pointers. I'm not well versed in genderfluidity. We'll figure more out about Haku later on. Gaara and Haku will form a friendship, especially once Ino goes back to college and takes Deidara with her and Lee leaves too. We need someone to keep our baby safe.  
>  **animefanxlove** : Thank you! And yes he is. I love him. And I already answered that question, but Hidan is a ho and Itachi is a saint so there's that lol. This chapter we didn't get much KisaIta but there will be a oneshot that's a flashback eventually once I have the time to write it.  
>  **MirSama** : Okay, and yes, KisaIta is life.  
>  **Bumblebees_Girl** : That's a good idea, I'll consider it! And there's so much of Kisame that I had mentioned in previous chapters which you guys probably didn't even catch on to that I have to discuss (For example, the christmas party when they play never have I ever and Itachi admitted to having sex in a car. That was KisaIta lmao) oh man, having Lee mix up Gaara and Sasori needs to happen at some point in the fic! Thanks for that lol.  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : Haha, I'm glad you feel that way. There will be some form of Ino Neji fight but it won't be as... uh, satisfying? I guess. It's kind of mean. Sometimes google translates things weird so just be wary of that lol. No idea what a seatbelt has to do with anything but thanks? lol  
>  **GabrielaTaisho** : ikr? Haku is love. Ooo I really need to think of how to add Zabuza to the fic... I do have a thing for large age gaps... #Mykink (if no one could tell which you probably could by this point) And by the way, the end of the chapter is for you lol  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : I'm happy you did. Haku was one of my favorites when I was younger. I love KisaIta in this story they're too sweet. For the longest time I knew Kisame was Itachi's ex boyfriend but I wasn't sure if I was going to bring him back into the story and I'm glad I did because I adore him. Trying to have Deidara and Hidan go slow will be my undoing but I will try! Unfortunately the party will be next chapter as I got carried away with Deidara and Hidan's date because they're my OTP and I needed them.  
>  **Vivi** : Thank you!

Chapter Eighty-One:

"So... Where are we going?" Deidara asked a minute into the drive. He was so nervous.

"So there's two things I love. My religion, and food." Hidan started and Deidara raised an eyebrow, did Hidan plan on bringing him to his church's cookout or something? "I also took into consideration your love for that prissy art shit."

"You're so eloquent when you speak, hm." Deidara said blankly and Hidan grinned at him. The grin alone told Deidara not to take the words to heart. 

"Thanks. I try. Anyway, yeah. So that's what we're doing."

"You... didn't tell me anything."

"Yup." And that was that. Deidara pouted. "Aw, don't worry about it, Princess. I'll make this date nice for you." Hidan winked lasciviously at him and Deidara's face burned.

"Who said this was a date, hm? I said we were hanging out!" It was then that Deidara realized how right Ino was. He was a terrible flirt. He just got too flustered. He didn't like anyone thinking he liked them even if he did. This was going to be a disaster.

"It's fine, I don't fuck on the first date, you can call it a date without worrying about your precious virginity." Deidara sputtered indignantly.

"Wh-wha? F-fuck-why are you-who said-did Ino tell you?" Hidan turned to Deidara with a grin bigger than before.

"I was just fucking with you. I didn't know you were a virgin." Deidara hated his ability to put a foot in his mouth and turned to glower staring out the window. "Aw don't be like that, princess. Don't worry, I'll woo you first." Hidan teased and Deidara grumbled at that.

Hidan let Deidara throw his tantrum with minimal interruptions and they finally pulled into a relatively full parking area. 

"Where are we?"

"Next town over. It's like a food festival or some shit. There's like shed things where people sell shit too." Hidan climbed out of the car and Deidara followed him curiously. They walked into the crowded area and Deidara was taken back by how beautiful everything was. It looked like a small village with tiny houses selling food, drinks and homemade items. 

Hidan's first stop was to get mulled wine. He insisted it was the only way he got any fruit consumption in his diet. Deidara rolled his eyes. It didn't stop him from stealing Hidan's wine and taking a sip. It was pretty good actually. Hidan let Deidara drink it with a smirk.

"Aren't you underage?" He teased and Deidara stuck out his tongue and then took another sip.

"Fuck, I burned my tongue." Deidara said and stuck his tongue out. Hidan laughed and stole his paper cup of wine back.

"That's what you get for breaking the law." Hidan chuckled and Deidara shoved him slightly and some of the wine splashed back on Hidan's arm, getting his sleeve wet with the dark red liquid. Deidara's eyes widened.

"I'm so sorry." Hidan looked down at his sleeve and brought his wrist to his mouth and licked the wine up.

"Not the first time I had my clothes stained red, princess." He said without thinking. Deidara stared at him curiously and was reminded again that this man wasn't really to be messed with. Deidara considered the danger in being with him and found it to be more alluring than he wanted to admit. 

Deidara was the one to drag them around to each of the huts looking at the things people created. Just because he believed art was meant to be fleeting didn't mean everyone else did and Deidara could appreciate other works of art. Hidan allowed himself to be dragged places and every once in a while, Deidara would steal a sip of his wine and move on to the next thing that caught his attention. 

It was nearing 8pm by this point. They wandered around for an hour. Eventually settling on a place to eat and Deidara convinced Hidan to eat dessert first. A waffle folded up like a cone and stuffed with fruit and whipped cream. Deidara took pleasure in stuffing fruit into Hidan's mouth and watching Hidan glare at him and eat it anyway.

"You're lucky these aren't vegetables." He said and Deidara shoved another strawberry into his mouth. "Fuck. We gotta hurry." He grabbed Deidara's wrist and they ran through the crowd. Deidara sighed when he noticed a few strawberry pieces fell out of the waffle and wondered if this was a part of Hidan's plan. 

Hidan plopped Deidara on his lap once he sat in the grass. There were a lot of people around all sitting in the field doing nothing. 

"What's going on?" Deidara asked. "And why am I in your lap?"

"I forgot to bring a fuckin' blanket and the ground is cold." Hidan answered and Deidara waited for Hidan to answer the first question he asked but apparently that was asking too much of him. Deidara shifted in Hidan's lap and Hidan bit his tongue hard and tried to think of so many unsexy things to get his mind away from the fact that Deidara was grinding in his lap. Why did he say he didn't fuck on the first date? He totally would fuck on the first date.

Deidara moved so he was in Hidan's lap sideways so he could still force-feed him strawberries and kiwi. If Hidan knew the kid was such a dick, he may not have bought him the fucking waffle. Deidara's satisfied smile was reward enough though. And the second Deidara's face literally lit up with the first boom of the fireworks, really made eating strawberries worth it. Deidara's attention was moved to the fireworks in the sky while Hidan watched them explode in the reflection of Deidara's slate blue eyes. 

At some point, Deidara grabbed Hidan's arm and squeezed it each time a particularly exciting firework went off. Hidan managed to finagle it so Deidara was holding his hand instead. Deidara hadn't noticed. He was too immersed in the firework display.

Hidan noticed the fireworks that excited Deidara the most were the loud ones that made a whistling sound as they were being shot off. Those and the ones that exploded with a loud boom. Deidara's lips would always curl up more after those ones were released. Hidan could watch the emotions flicker across Deidara's face all day, especially if he looked like that. 

"That was awesome." Deidara whispered with a grin after the finale. "You knew they were going to do a firework show?"

"Well, that would be the entire fucking reason for me going to this." Hidan said, sort of brushing it off as if it were nothing.

"You said it was because you liked food."

"Yeah well I'm also a liar."

"Does that mean you're lying now?" Hidan smirked at the question.

"You'll never know, will you?" Deidara tried to not look amused and failed. "Come on, let's grab some real food before I die of fruit overdose."

"You had 6 pieces of strawberry, it doesn't even equate to a whole strawberry. You'll live." Deidara chided and Hidan stuck his tongue out.

"Suck a dick, princess."

"I don't suck dick on the first date. Sorry." The comment had Hidan grin in a really strange way. "What?"

"You called it a date." Deidara's cheeks turned pink and he glared at Hidan like it was his fault for the slipup. 

"Shut the fuck up, Hidan." Deidara said and quickly got off Hidan's lap. When Hidan pushed himself off the grass, he frowned at the realization that his ass was wet and numb. 

"You didn't even buy me dinner first..." Hidan mumbled to the ground without thinking and Deidara stared at him curiously. "So food." It was Hidan's turn to lead Deidara.

***

"Alright." Hidan unclicked his seat belt and got out of the car. He was at Deidara's side before Deidara was able to open his door for himself. Hidan opened the door and held out a hand to help Deidara climb down. Closing the door behind him, Hidan walked Deidara to the front steps. "Thanks for humoring me, princess. This is where I leave you." 

"So this was our one and only date?" Deidara asked with a raised eyebrow. Hidan smirked at him.

"No. We have to at least make it to the third date... Or whichever date you inevitably put out on." His grin was lecherous and Deidara shoved Hidan's shoulder with an eye roll. "Unless you don't want a second date?"

"You better take me out on a second date, hm." Hidan laughed, standing way too close to Deidara.

"Bossy... I like it." 

"I guess I'll see you when I see you." 

"I won't make you wait too long, I promise." Hidan winked and took a step back and started to walk away. "I'll see you soon, princess."

"Where are you going?" Deidara sounded irritated. Hidan stopped to look at him. 

"Well unless you want me to stay over..." 

"No!" Deidara blushed.

"Princess it's nearly midnight, what do you want from me?" Deidara's face darkened and he turned away.

"Nothing. Goodnight." Hidan chuckled to himself. Deidara was such a girl. He strode up the steps before Deidara opened the front door, whirled him around and kissed him. Deidara's annoyance melted away and his arms wrapped around Hidan's neck tightly.

"You just had to say you wanted a goodnight kiss." Hidan teased.

"I shouldn't have to ask." Was Deidara's retort. Hidan kissed him again and moaned into the kiss.

"I have to go or I won't leave. Your virgin ass will thank me later." Hidan kissed Deidara one last time and quickly and uncomfortably made his way back to the car and waved. Deidara waved back and watched him drive away.

The door was opened from the inside, scaring Deidara half to death and Gaara and Kisame stood there with their arms crossed like disapproving parents. 

"What the fuck?!" Deidara whispered harshly, knowing that the rest of the household was probably asleep.

"You're awfully late." Gaara said stiffly. Kisame nodded. "Did you two do something you shouldn't have?" Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"What? No!" 

"Ahu ka 'ala'ala."

"I don't even know what that means."

"You're full of crap." Sasuke called from inside. They were still there??

"Seriously! He kissed me and left! God, when did I get two older brothers, one of which is younger than me, hm?" Deidara forced his way in the door and kicked off his shoes.

"Were you drinking?" Gaara questioned and Deidara groaned.

"He aha lā?"

"Jesus, I never thought I'd say this but I wish Ino were here." Deidara grumbled and decided to FaceTime her. 

"Hey, Dee! How did the date go? Did you two fuck yet?" Ino's voice said loudly. She may have just signed a death wish because now everyone was arguing over Deidara keeping his virtue. "Shit, sorry."

"They wouldn't let me wear my clothes on the date either. I had to wear Gaara's old man sweater." Deidara pouted, ignoring everyone around him.

"Aw, no wonder you didn't get laid."

"Hey!" Gaara called from the side and then leaned into the camera's range and glared at Ino.

"Sorry boo, I love you. But Hidan probably doesn't want Deidara to look like an adorable school boy. That's more of your style."

"Adorable school boy? I do not-"

"She's kind of right." Itachi responded and Gaara huffed, puffing his cheeks out in annoyance. 

"Maika'I" Kisame said fondly and pat Gaara on the head. Before he could ask, Sasuke already answered.

"He called you adorable." Gaara glared and stood up.

"I'm going to sleep now." He went upstairs and Lee jumped off the couch and chased him.

"Wait, Gaara!" Kisame watched with an amused smile.

"Keka-"

"No they're not having sex, Kisame." Itachi interrupted and Kisame frowned at that.

"Please come back and take me with you." Deidara begged and Ino giggled.

"Sorry sweetie. How did the date go?" She asked again and Deidara felt everyone's eyes on him. 

"Oh Ino. What are you doing? You should be sleeping." A voice said softly on the other line. Deidara raised his eyebrow.

"Is that Neji?" Naruto whispered loudly. Deidara raised his eyebrow.

"I know. I'm talking to Deidara. Go to bed. You look like you're dying. I'm going to bed soon."

"Okay... I'll see you in the morning. Night." There was a yawn and then the other person was gone.

"Was that Neji?" Deidara asked and Ino giggled.

"Yeah. He fell asleep watching a movie."

"Why was he so nice sounding?" Ino shrugged.

"I dunno. I guess he's nicer when he's tired? Anyway, I really do have to go to bed. We have the party to go to tomorrow. But text me the deets! Love you!" 

"Yeah, love you, hm." Deidara said with a sigh. Ino hung up and Deidara looked at the group of people staring at him like vultures. "I'd rather deal with Gaara than this." Deidara said and got off the chair and ran up the stairs. He heard Gaara and Lee talking in Lee's room so just went to Gaara's room and got changed. Gaara came into the room a few moments later and the two of them just passed out on the bed.

Kisame got pictures of them cuddling which he laughed about for about 10 minutes until Itachi rolled his eyes and dragged the man downstairs.

***

Hizashi woke up the next morning and sighed. Ino went to bed after him and somehow still beat him awake. How did she do that? He woke up for work every day at 630, he'd assume a college student like her would sleep in for once.

He went downstairs and saw Ino in the kitchen making breakfast. He grinned at her backside and she turned to face him.

"Good morning, handsome." She said and went back to cooking.

"How do you always beat me awake?" He asked finally and she laughed.

"Well, I'm in baking and pastry. One of my bread classes starts at 3am. I'm bound to beat you awake. I wake up at 5 on a good day."

"But you went to bed passed midnight. You're not tired?" She shrugged.

"I'm a college student. I'm pretty much perpetually exhausted." He nodded, remembering what it was like.

"Fair enough."

"Hey is there a store around? I really want orange juice." Ino said and Hizashi nodded.

"Yeah there's a bodega 6 minutes away by car. I can grab you some." Ino shook her head.

"No, that’s fine, I can just-" Hizashi already left the kitchen to put on regular clothes. She smiled fondly and shook her head, focusing back on making breakfast.

"Be right back!" Hizashi called and the front door closed. Ino giggled and continued to whisk the egg, buttermilk, heavy cream, milk, and nutmeg together for the base of the quiche she was making. She had the crust par baked already and cooling on the counter. 

While she was cutting up the vegetables for the quiche, Neji walked into the room looking as irritated as ever for no reason. She liked him better when he was half asleep.

"Morning, Neji~!" She chirped happily and he looked at her with a disapproving stare. Using the basil pesto she made, she smeared it on the bottom of the crust, sprinkled shredded mozzarella and diced tomatoes on the bottom. She poured the liquid in and grabbed some sesame oil and drizzled it on top. Making sure the oven was at the low temperature of 300, she put the quiche in the oven and started to clean up her mess. She glanced over at Neji and noticed he really seemed to be in a foul mood. She hadn't even done anything to him yet.

Neji watched her with a glare. She didn't even try to cover herself up. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, the bangs that were normally in her face were pinned to the side. She had a spaghetti strap shirt on that wasn't necessarily low cut but Neji didn't think she was wearing a bra. Her shorts were definitely sleep shorts considering how high they were cut. Neji was amazed he couldn't see the bottom of her ass, they were so fucking short. Did she get off dressing like a slut around his dad? What was her problem?

His eyes scrutinized her, examining every imperfection he could latch onto and save for later. Feeling more cutthroat this morning than he usually did, he wanted to make sure he could deliver some seriously shattering blows. He wasn't worried about it either. If there was someone who would be able to take an insult it was Ino. And she always delivered the same amount of snark she was served. 

Ino could tell he was looking at her and honestly it didn't do what it normally did when she knew a guy was eyeing her. Under Neji's gaze she felt completely naked and vulnerable. She tried her best to ignore it but she was feeling self-conscious. Especially with the 10 pounds she gained from the beginning of the school year. Culinary teachers weren't kidding when they said you'd gain weight from going there. Plus, she didn't have any of her extracurriculars to keep her in shape. She knew she had to go to the gym and Deidara already promised to be her gym buddy but they decided that after the college break started. 

Neji noticed the way Ino moved her hips. He also thought it was strange that her hips were as wide as they were. He assumed only mothers had wide hips after they'd given birth, although he didn't pay much attention to it. He could only base Ino's body shape on the only girls he'd actually paid enough attention to. Hinata and Tenten. Both of them were slim. Tenten wasn't curvy in the slightest, her hips were narrow. Hinata's were slightly more curvaceous but not even close to Ino. Neji frowned, he could never understand women's bodies. 

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Ino quipped finally. Neji felt slightly flustered knowing he was caught staring at her and hoped she didn't take it the wrong way.

"You take enough of them on your own, Thunder Thighs." He said and stood up, leaving the room. He didn't notice how Ino's movements faltered. 

Ino's heart hurt and her face burned with embarrassment. She pressed her lips together and pushed her eyebrows close and felt a burning sensation in her eyes and cursed to herself knowing she was starting to cry. She glanced down and looked at her thighs hatefully and in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to go home. 

When she heard Hizashi's car pull into the driveway, she rubbed her eyes and cleared her throat and went back to washing the dishes. Hizashi walked into the kitchen like a beacon of light and proudly gave Ino the orange juice. She smiled at him as best as she could but he could tell something was off.

"Are you alright?" She nodded and forced out a high pitched 'mhm'. He shut the water off and pulled her into a hug. He was so cold from being outside, the feeling gave her goosebumps. 

Once the quiche was ready 40 minutes later, Ino pulled it out to let it cool for a bit so when she cut it, it wouldn't fall apart. While she waited, she baked off some biscuits.

She set the table and called them down for breakfast. She was surprised to actually see Neji sit with them. Hizashi looked curiously at her. After she served Neji a slice and him a slice, she hadn't touched it.

"Are you going to have some?" He asked and she smiled at him.

"Uh, no, I actually ate some of the tomato and cheese while I made it. I'm not hungry." She lied, smiling. "I'm going to get ready." She left the room and Hizashi looked after her curiously but would've felt bad if he didn't at least have one piece of the quiche she spent all morning on. 

Neither of them were surprised that it tasted good. Neji glared at the doorway she left from. He hated that she was good at what she did. 

Upstairs Ino sat on the edge of the bathtub while she watched the water fall from the shower head. She waited for the water to come to temperature and she felt miserable. She poked at her thighs with a scowl and let her head hit the wall behind her. She straddled the ledge of the bathtub and one of her legs was starting to get wet with water. She wondered what could possibly make her feel better right now.

"Hey, Ino." Hizashi lightly knocked on the door and opened it slightly. "Mind if I come in?"

"No." Hizashi walked into the bathroom and looked at her sit strangely on the tub. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. And tell you that breakfast was fantastic, I wish you would've stayed and eaten with us." She gave a wry smile. "Did something happen while I was gone?" She shook her head innocently. He walked over to the tub and sat down at her side and looked up at her. "You know... you look incredible like that."

"Like what?" 

"Naked, with your hair down." Hizashi raked his eyes over Ino's body and she blushed but soaked up the positive attention. That's fine, if Neji wanted to be a dick, she would just have to make sure she annoyed him even more today. What was better than having sex with his dad?

"Want to join me?" She asked and he smiled.

"I thought you'd never ask."

***

Deidara learned to expect the unexpected since becoming friends with Gaara and Ino. Nothing though, nothing at all could've prepared him for the clusterfuck of a mess he woke up to.

Going downstairs was a madhouse. Gai and Kakashi were loudly arguing about a game going on on the television. Kisame was cursing up a storm in Hawaiian, Sasuke and Naruto were fighting, Itachi was trying to calm Kisame down, Gaara was in the kitchen cooking and Lee was literally working out in the kitchen. 

"What even is going on?" Deidara asked and Gaara glanced over and smiled. Gaara and Sasuke were making breakfast but it was hard to do when Naruto kept provoking Sasuke into a cursing fit. 

"I wouldn't be surprised if things got even weirder." Gaara mused but there was a glint in his eyes. Deidara frowned.

A good hour later, Sasuke was setting the table with Kakashi and Lee's help. They pulled out another table and set up more chairs. Deidara knew he sucked at math but there seemed to be more chairs than necessary at the moment. 

"Can you get that?" Kakashi asked Deidara and before he could ask, there was a knock at the door. Deidara raised an eyebrow and walked over to it. When he opened it, he stared in mild shock to see Hidan and his partner, Kakuzu standing there.

"What the fuck are you doing here, hm?"

"We were invited over as a thank you." Kakuzu said slowly and was curious to see that Deidara didn't even looked confused. Had Deidara known what they did for Gaara?

"Come in, I guess..." Deidara stepped out of the way and got a whiff of Hidan's cologne. Very briefly he imagined just licking the scent off of Hidan's skin and then coughed awkwardly, rushing back into the kitchen area. 

Much to Gaara's dismay, everyone coupled up at the main table so he had to sit at the smaller table which was deemed the children's table. This was only ironic because he was fairly certain Kakuzu was older than his dads yet he sat at the children's table with him, Hidan and Deidara. Lee offered for Gaara to switch places with him, but Gaara let Lee sit next to his brother. Plus, he was the entire reason Hidan and Kakuzu came... Well, at least partially the reason Hidan showed up. 

"Fuck, these are some goddamn awesome pancakes." Hidan complimented and Kakuzu stared at him curiously. "For fucks sake, Kuzu, take off your damned mask. We're the only three that can see your ugly face." Kakuzu glared heatedly at Hidan but Hidan just grinned and shoveled pancakes in his mouth. 

"Great job, like always, Gaara. You too, Sasuke." Kakashi complimented and then Gai went on a rant about how amazing Gaara was with his youthful abilities to create such a wondrous meal that brought together even strangers. Gaara was honestly surprised they didn't grill Kakuzu and Hidan being how the only thing they knew about them was that one was old and one was hot and they saved Gaara from a ditch. Perhaps later.

Gaara was texting Ino about everything that was going on and he couldn't help but look up at the exact time Kakuzu pulled his mask down. Gaara swallowed thickly. Hidan didn't seem to notice but Gaara quickly averted his gaze and fumbled with his phone. He needed to show this to Ino. He discreetly took a picture and maybe... more than one picture, actually. But one of the pictures showed a pleasantly surprised look on Kakuzu's face after eating Gaara's pancakes.

Kakuzu continued to eat, his eyes glancing to Hidan every once in a while wondering if his idiot of a partner would ever notice his mask was off but Hidan seemed fixated on Deidara for the time being. Gaara got a sick feeling of satisfaction knowing that he knew what Kakuzu's face looked like and Hidan didn't. His phone went off and he looked down to see a response from Ino.

**_The old guy is hot??? Fucking plot twist. Strike up your inner ho and sleep with him, as I believe I'm in a committed relationship. Let me live vicariously through you._ ** _  
Ino. No. I'm not sleeping with Kakuzu._

To distract Ino, he sent her a picture of Deidara making obvious goo-goo eyes at Hidan which was met with Ino sending several hundred laugh crying faces. She insisted she would use the picture as a reaction image every time they talked about someone hot and Gaara snorted. He couldn't hold back his laugh when Ino told him how hot Hizashi was and then followed it up with a color inverted Deidara picture with glowing eyes and the hashtag #HeGotMeLike. 

_I can't stand you, Ino. Really.  
 **Shut the fuck up, boo. You love me.**  
Yeah whatever gets you to sleep.  
 **Send me another picture of the hot old guy.**  
Ino, his name is Kakuzu.  
 **I'm not the one that needs to know his name... ;)**_

Rolling his eyes, Gaara took another subtle picture of Kakuzu and sent it to Ino. He should have expected it, but when she responded with the picture of Deidara he lost it. He choked on his water and tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. Deidara quickly turned to him and started smacking his back hard, trying to help. Gaara shut his phone's screen off and hit his chest with his fist. Everyone was staring at him and he finally got himself under control.

"I'm okay." He said and Hidan glanced over to Kakuzu and noticed his plate was clearly dirty with use but his mask was still on.

"How the hell did you eat?" Hidan asked and Kakuzu stared at Gaara, smirking slightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly Kakuzu was going to wink at the end but I felt that was too out of character so he just smirked lol
> 
> 1) Well first of all, how was the Deidan date? (I think I made Hidan too nice so I'll have to change it for the second date.  
> 2) Aw poor Ino got her feelings hurt by Neji. Why do you think he's in such a rotten mood? And will Ino confront him?  
> 3) There will be a flashback oneshot for my KisaIta babies coming when I have the chance to write it. Is there any part of their relationship you want to see? (This takes place when they were 15-16. And yes, they lost their virginity to each other.)  
> 4) Hm, peculiar that Lee needed to speak to Gaara, what do you think it was about?  
> 5) Haha who saw the Kakuzu bit coming? (I can't help it, I'm in love with that beautiful 91 year old man.)
> 
> I have a new fic now called **Deliverance** I'm pretty pumped about it so if you want to please read it. It's a time travel fic about Obito. Plus, right now there isn't any ships set in stone (although there's implied past one sided TobiDei) but if you start voting for couples now, you may just get your ship!
> 
> Thank you everyone. And make sure to check for updates more consistently. No. My laptop isn't fixed, but my husband has work all week so I have his computer. I can use it when my daughter is sleeping.


	82. Chapter 82

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I've had life suck the soul out of me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Desbelleschoses, Dance_MrSandman and OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : You know whats magical? The fact that I don't think we had the discord server before this so we didn't talk like how we do now. How crazy is that. These comments you three left were before we had the sillysluttyselfies times. Iconic. I love you three. Stay golden ponyboy(s?)  
>  **GabrielaTaisho** : So sorry this took so long honey, I hope you enjoy it!  
>  **Vivi** : Thank you so much my dear. And thank you for your comment on INU too, it meant a lot. I hope you like the chapter my dear.  
>  **MirSama** : no not yet!  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : Yes my dear I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. Just a lot of bullshit on my part but I'm back now and I hope you enjoy! Thanks for everything hun.  
>  **ox0hunny0xo** : Hey my dear, I follow you on tumblr and I hope you're doing okay. If you need me message me, I'm here for you. And I hope you still feel like this shit is your crack because I'm so sorry it took this long to write.   
> **Erolf** : aw that's so sweet of you to say! I'm happy you enjoy it! And I hope this chapter is just as good!  
>  **HaileyChann** : Fuckin. Neji. I was going to put you in with the group up top but this is your ho asses first time commenting so you get singled out. When you left this comment you had no idea you would be invited to my discord server and shit on by my other readers, did you?? (to be fair I didn't think I would be shit on either...) Love you bb<3  
>  **FriendlyNeighbourhoodLesbian** : That's completely fine! We're glad to have you! Hopefully there won't be a delay like this for another chapter so stay close to your notifications! Hidan with a scottish accent sounds fantastic I love it. If I had any idea how to solidify that he was from scottland I would but I know nothing about there and I don't want to bastardize that lol. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter!

Chapter Eighty-Two:

Neji sat miserably on the couch closest to the front door. Him and his father had been ready to leave for the past 15 minutes but Ino still wasn't downstairs. They were going to be late. His father didn't seem to mind, in face, his father looked quite content. Neji wanted to huff but didn't feel like getting into it with his father right now. 

The sound of someone walking down the steps had both of the boys turn. Ino was dressed surprisingly modestly. She was actually wearing thick stockings for the weather. A red skirt, a pale pink sweater, and a black scarf. Her hair was down and curly, Neji hadn't realized exactly how long her hair was before. She wasn't wearing much makeup which was strange for how she normally looked when she went out. Just mascara and some lip gloss. Neji was suddenly irritated that they spent all that time waiting and she didn't even do anything to show for it.

"You look beautiful." Hizashi said with a smile, Neji held back a scoff and they were in the car.

His dad and Ino sat in the front and Neji was in the back staring out of the window while trying to think about being anywhere but there. Then he realized something. His dad was talking. Ino wasn't. That was weird. What was weirder was the fact that when he gave her a lull in the conversation, she just politely 'mhm'ed and he would continue on with his story. Did his dad know Ino was upset? Neji's eyes narrowed at her. She wasn't paying attention to him but he could tell shew as upset just by her tight smile.

When did he learn to give a shit? He shook his head and stared back out of the window for the duration of the car ride.

***

An hour into Hanabi's party and Neji wanted to go home. He hated when the family got together. And the fact that Ino was friends with Hinata made it worse since Hinata was occupied by Ino. He could've joined them if he wanted to but he just didn't care enough to. 

His father was mingling with the rest of the family, occasionally looking over at Ino fondly. Ino was laughing which was better than she was in the car, Neji was still curious as to what her deal was. 

This is how Neji found himself sitting near a group of Hanabi's male friends. These kids were only about 15-16 years old so obviously they didn't have anything of import to say. Neji for the most part stayed tuned out of their conversation.

That is until he heard them mention Ino.

"Man why don't we have girls that hot in our school?"

"Because, let's be honest, if she went to our school, only one of my heads would be working, know what I mean?"

"I don't know, she looks like she would put out for anybody..." Neji listened to them make comment after comment while his eyes were focused on the side of Ino's face. She was laughing at something Hinata said, completely unaware of the degrading comments that were being made about her and for whatever reason that really struck a nerve with Neji. 

"So why don't you go over and try? If she's such a slut, then she wouldn't mind-"

"SHUT UP!" Neji snapped looking at them with wild eyes. His heart was thumping in his chest and he was so angry he was shaking. His outburst caused quite a few head turns but Neji wasn't focused on that. He stood up and walked over to them. He looked down on them and leaned in. "If I hear you talking disrespectfully about Ino one more time, I will eviscerate you and strangle you with your own entrails." He said levelly and then stood up and walked away. Each step sent a burning feeling of anger up his spine and his face was red and his lips were twisted in a scowl. 

"Are you okay?" Neji's eyes closed tightly and he sighed. The one voice he didn't want to hear. He turned to face Ino.

"Yes. I'm fine." She frowned and suddenly his anger melted away.

"Are you okay?" He asked completely seriously. Ino seemed shocked by the question and looked away.

"Yeah. I'm ok." She said and he knew she was lying but he wasn't in a position to call her out so he simply nodded. 

Later on he wondered why he stood up for Ino of all people.

***

"Gaara, my man, you have to come with me." Deidara begged and Gaara raised an eyebrow.

"Where are we going?"

"Well I want to hang out with Hidan but I don't want it to be weird with Kakuzu."

"You want to double date?" Gaara asked flatly and Deidara gave him a grin. "Seriously?" Gaara rolled his eyes. "Ino won't let me live it down."

"That you went out with the old guy?" Deidara asked and without thinking, Gaara responded.

"No, that I went out with the hot old guy." Deidara gave him a look and Gaara looked slightly embarrassed. "Her words, not mine." He amended.

"How the fuck do you know he's hot? He wears that stupid thing on his head." Gaara went to answer him and decided against it. It would be his and Ino's secret. Instead he shrugged.

"It's Ino?" He offered and Deidara took that as a good enough answer. "When are we going?"

"Like now." Gaara blinked slowly.

"I like the heads up you give me." He said and sighed. "Alright, let me get changed." Deidara clapped and grabbed his own bag and then paused once he looked at his clothes. "Want to borrow another old man sweater from me?" Gaara asked blankly and Deidara nodded with a smile.

***

"So where are we going?" Kisame asked with a smile. 

"I figured we'd just take a drive to refresh our memories." Itachi said and Kisame smiled devilishly. 

"Will that one mountainous area be a part of the tour?" He asked and Itachi blushed beautifully. "Oh look, you even know which one I'm referring to."

"I may be forgetful, but I don't think I could ever forget those times." Itachi said with a shake of his head as he pulled out of the driveway. 

"Oh? Never? Why is that, Kuú Lei?" Itachi sent a glare to his ex-boyfriend and Kisame continued to smile innocently.

"I refuse to humor you." Itachi said simply and Kisame pouted and crossed his arms. "Acting childish is not becoming of you."

"The only thing that will be coming is you when you take me to the mountains." Kisame grinned at his word play there and Itachi tensed and blushed brightly. 

"Kisame!" He scolded and Kisame laughed loudly.

"I couldn't help it. You're so easy, Kuú Lei." He said fondly and Itachi shook his head.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you..." He mumbled.

"I can think of a few things..." 

"Kisame!" Itachi stopped at the stop sign and turned to scold Kisame but the second he turned, Kisame grabbed his face and kissed him. "Mmm!" Kisame grinned against Itachi's lips at the startled sound but it didn't take long to coax Itachi into kissing him back. Those lips were still so talented. It had been a while since Kisame was intimate with anyone so it wasn't a surprise that he was getting excited fairly quickly. Just being in a close proximity of Itachi set his skin ablaze. There was so much tension he wanted to rip through it all. 

"Sorry." Kisame said, breathing heavier. "I don't know what came over me... I do know, but I don't know why I attacked you like that. Sorry." Itachi grabbed Kisame by the collar and pulled him down for another kiss and with each passing second, that mountain was sounding better and better. "Itachi, we need to stop." Kisame whined against Itachi's lips. Itachi pulled away, looking flushed and dazed. His lips were plump from kissing and Kisame just wanted to bite them. "Sorry... I'm just... too excited." Itachi's eyes glanced down briefly at the bulge in Kisame's pants and nodded slowly and quickly started to drive, while flattening his hair. "Where are we going?"

"The mountains."

"Thank fucking god."

***

Gaara wore his dark green colored sweater and a black beanie, he realized how long his hair was when he had to push it out of his eyes after it laid flat on his head. Deidara picked out a dark blue sweater and put his hair up like normal and wore a headband that covered his ears from the cold. 

They said goodbye to Gaara's parents and Lee and left the house, climbing in the car with Kakuzu and Hidan.

Kakuzu was not impressed that Hidan made him sit in the back seat of the van so was in a pretty bad mood already. Gaara had no idea how to even communicate with the grouchy man and started to glare at Deidara already. Why was he even doing this? They couldn't just go off without Kakuzu?

"So where are we going?" Gaara asked once the car was turned on.

"I need to get new shoes so we're going to the mall. Yay, Kuzu's favorite place!" Hidan said with false cheer. Kakuzu grumbled and that alone let Gaara know how little Kakuzu wanted to go.

"You're the bane of my existence." Kakuzu grumbled and Hidan chuckled. 

"Thanks Kuzu, baby." Kakuzu tensed up instantly and sent such a heated glare to Hidan. "Ah! Can't hit the driver! I might crash and kill all of us." Hidan said and Kakuzu growled.

"It'll be worth it if I get to end your life." He said under his breath and Gaara bit his cheek to stop himself from laughing.

"That's not nice, Kuzu."

"I swear to Benjamin, if you don't stop calling me Kuzu, I will end your life before you even have a chance to beg your god for forgiveness." 

"Wow, someone is cranky today and I did absolutely nothing wrong ever in my life."

"Of course, Hidan." Deidara agreed sarcastically and Hidan smiled at him. 

"Cheeky shit." Hidan said fondly. "Now, which mall should we go to? I'm thinking the biggest mall they have because it'll get your steps in for the day, Kuzi."

"What the fuck have I told you about-"

"I called you Kuzi this time." Hidan argued and Kakuzu just rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Haha yeah, lawyered! I got you with that loophole."

"You can still dump him while there's time, Deidara." Kakuzu said, staring out of the car window miserably.

"Sweet." Hidan pointed at Deidara.

"Don't you dare dump me before I ask you out, that's just rude."

"Hey Deidara, just take it one step further and ask for a divorce." Gaara quipped and Deidara turned to him with a smirk.

"What the fuck? I don't even get to consummate the marriage but I get divorced? That's the rudest thing ever, why?"

"Because you're a damned moron." Kakuzu said flatly and Deidara nearly giggled. "See? Even Deidara thinks so."

"No, Deidara adores me, I'm awesome. Tell him, Princess."

"I plead the fifth, hm." Deidara said smugly and Hidan covered his heart with a gasp.

"Kuzu, stop trying to steal my princess, get your own. Gaara, are you dating anyone?" Gaara's face turned red. "That's a no. Woo him instead."

"I'm not wooing anyone." Kakuzu scoffed.

"Not with that attitude..." Hidan muttered and Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

***

"Was the party alright?" Hizashi asked once they were all home. "I felt some tension from you. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine." Neji said coolly. "Just 15-year-old boys being utterly repulsive."

"You were 15 at one point." Hizashi teased and Neji sent him a look of disgust. 

"Nothing like how they were, I'm positive." Neji said simply and looked away. "Anyway, I'm fine, the party was fine, everything is fine. I'm going to go upstairs now." Neji quickly fled the room and Ino glanced up at the stairs and tilted her head to the side. 

"He's been acting strangely lately." Ino said quietly. "And I'm unsure why."

"He's going to be okay. He just needs to be alone. I know how my son is." Hizashi said softly. "Come on, let's give him some space. Why don't you sit down and I'll grab us a snack." Ino nodded and sat on the couch while Hizashi went to the kitchen. She undid her hair and let it flow against her back. Picking up her phone she sent a quick text to Neji to make sure he was alright. She couldn't get out of him what he was arguing with the younger boys about but it really seemed to bother him.

"What kind of movie do you want to watch?"

"Can we laugh at horror movies?" Ino asked sweetly and Hizashi grinned at her and sunk down on the couch next to her.

"Of course. You take the remote while I deal with this." She nodded and sorted through the horror category on Netflix until she found something that looked promising. She hit play and looked over at Hizashi who was finishing up peeling the second orange. She smiled when he split them both in half and handed her half of each.

"Thank you, honey." She said softly and he smiled warmly at her and they watched the movie, eating an orange with Neji nagging at the back of Ino's mind.

What was wrong with him?

***

"Mmm, Itachi, fuck." Kisame moaned against Itachi's lips. They had the car parked in the secluded spot on the mountain. Itachi even had to drive on an off road trail to get there. He did not want anyone interrupting their moment together. 

They were in the back seat of the car, Itachi straddling Kisame's hips and both of them kissing aggressively. Each touch Kisame left on Itachi's skin felt like fire and Itachi shivered with need and anticipation. 

"Kisame I want you so bad." Itachi said breathlessly against Kisame's cheek.

"I want to taste you first, Kuú Lei. It's been so long and you're so... fucking good." Kisame sent a long luck over Itachi's neck. 

"You can do that when we're not in a truck, Kisame." Itachi all but whined. 

"Why not? It's what's fun about it-"

"Kisame, I am begging you right now. I need you." Itachi said, holding steady eye contact with Kisame. All the humor drained from Kisame's face and he gave a stiff nod. Itachi inwardly cheered, knowing he could always get Kisame to do what he wanted, even now. 

Kisame began fumbling with his pants after Itachi climbed off of his lap to yank down his own pants. Once Itachi's pants were on the floor of his truck, he turned to Kisame and his own cock pulsed with need on seeing Kisame's bare erect cock. 

"What do you want to do, Kuú Lei?" Kisame asked, his own breathing picking up with lust. 

"It doesn't matter to me, Kisame. I just want you." Kisame nodded and leaned over. His hot breath on Itachi's erection for a moment until he opened his mouth and licked up Itachi's cock with as much saliva as he could. Itachi made a shivering moan at the contact and Kisame's smirk turned wolfish. 

"Still so sensitive, Itachi." Itachi whimpered at the name. Kisame so rarely called Itachi by his name it was more erotic when he finally did. 

"Kisame..." Itachi breathed. "Please." Kisame kissed Itachi tenderly and Itachi cupped Kisame's face, wanting Kisame to be as close to him as possible. Kisame straddled Itachi's lap and Kisame smirked when Itachi curled his fingers, scratching Kisame's cheeks when he felt the tightness of Kisame's hole pressed against the tip of his cock. "F-fuck. Kisame." Itachi's hands gripped Kisame's hips and Kisame sunk down slowly. "A-ah!"

"You still feel good, Kuú Lei." Kisame purred and Itachi fisted Kisame's aching erection with one of his hands and wrapped his other arm around Kisame's waist. 

"Wh-why are you bottoming?" Itachi asked as Kisame rolled his hips above him.

"Mmm." Kisame bit his lip, feeling the sensation of Itachi rubbing against a bundle of nerves inside him. "Because when you're on bottom..." Kisame began a steady pace, closing his eyes briefly feeling Itachi's soft hand on his erection. "When you're on bottom I need to prep you. And I'd rather do that in a nice bed. Plus you..." Kisame tilted his head back and a soft moan escaped his lips. "you take less time when you're topping." Itachi's cheeks turned red but he didn't make any indication that Kisame wasn't being truthful.

"You could just say you like bottoming." Itachi teased and Kisame gave him a toothy grin.

"I do love bottoming." Itachi chuckled.

"Even when you have to hold your head like that so you don't hit it on the roof of the car?" Kisame stopped his movements and leaned down to kiss Itachi's head.

"Especially when I have to hold my head like this so I don't hit my head on the roof of the car. This isn't the first time I've had to do this." Itachi gave another tender stroke on Kisame's cock and prompted Kisame to start moving again. 

The sound of the car was filled with gasps of breath, the sounds of kisses and Itachi's wheel suspension being put to the test. Itachi's fingernails dug into Kisame's hip and he squeezed Kisame's cock tightly with his other hand. Just the noises alone of him having sex with Kisame in his truck was making him more and more sensitive. The thought of Kisame in his lap riding him was enough to send Itachi over the edge. Kisame leaned in close, pressing his nose to Itachi's neck and whispered soft yeses. 

"Good, Kuú Lei, come for me. Fuck, Itachi." Itachi came undone the second Kisame's lips pressed against his neck and Kisame rocked their hips together slowly, riding out Itachi's orgasm. 

"Kisame..." Itachi's chest rose and fell quickly with the rhythm of his breathing. 

"You feel good?" Itachi gave a nod and Kisame grinned. "I'm glad."

"Let me get you." Itachi said, out of breath and Kisame chuckled and climbed off of Itachi and sat bare on the seat next to him. 

"Then get in-between my legs, I missed that mouth of yours." Kisame said, smiling and rubbing his thumb on Itachi's chin. 

It didn't take long for Itachi to swallow down most of Kisame's throbbing member in his mouth. Kisame's head fell back in pleasure. He'd been on the verge of finishing so he didn't think he would last very long. He forced himself to move his head so he could see Itachi situated between his legs. He bit his lip at the sight of the inky black hair falling over Itachi's shoulders and the way his head bobbed, taking in all of Kisame's cock.

Itachi's fingers slid into Kisame's hole which was wet with Itachi's juices. Kisame's mouth opened a fraction and he let out a hiss of air and found himself grinding against Itachi's fingers, wanting more than anything to be filled again. 

Kisame's mind just supplied him with the feeling from moments ago of Itachi inside him and the memor combined with the feeling of warmth around his cock was enough to have him moan out Itachi's name and empty himself down Itachi's throat. As he came. Kisame gripped Itachi's hair tightly and pushed his head down with force. He slowly let go as the intensity of the orgasm lessened and was left panting and gasping for air while Itachi pulled away with a smile. 

Without another thought, Kisame yanked Itachi in for a kiss and for a while they just made out in the back of Itachi's truck, naked.

Just like old times.

***

Gaara was actually thankful a few hours later that he went to the mall with Kakuzu and the others. Why? Because finally someone hated shopping just as much as he did. Usually he was dragged to every story and did nothing but stand there. Now he could do that too, but at least he had the option to listen to Kakuzu and Hidan bitch the entire time to each other. 

Deidara made a comment about them being an old married couple and it effectively made Hidan shut up and huff, stomping away.

Which is how him and Kakuzu found themselves sitting in the food court, eating mall pretzels and drinking bubble tea.

"These tapioca balls are the worst things I've ever had in my entire life." Kakuzu said with a darkened glare at the drink.

"Yeah, that's why I got strawberry." Gaara said simply and drank his. "So."

"What?" Kakuzu asked and perked his eyebrow.

"How long have you liked Hidan?" Gaara asked simply and held back a smirk at the bugged out look he was getting from Kakuzu. "What?"

"You aren't funny." Kakuzu said, Gaara could hear the disapproval in his voice.

"I'm not. Nor am I trying to be. It was a simple question." Kakuzu scoffed and looked off with crossed arms. 

"I won't dignify that with an answer." Kakuzu said and Gaara shrugged and ate another pretzel bite.

"Fair enough." The two sat in silence and Gaara noticed Kakuzu seemed to be twitchier than before. He didn't say anything. If it wasn't something Kakuzu wanted to face, then he would let it go. "How come Hidan has never seen your face?"

"Because he keeps asking to." Kakuzu said tonelessly. "And I like not giving him what he wants." Gaara smirked at that. "Don't read too far into that." Kakuzu warned and Gaara put his arms up defensively and drank more of his tea.

***

"So Hidan..." Deidara trailed off and Hidan looked up from tying the shoelaces on the sneakers he was trying on.

"What's up, princess?"

"Why did you want to go out with me the other night? And today?"

"Cause I like you." Hidan said simply. "Next stupid question." Hidan said with a smirk and Deidara rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. "Hey what's on your mind?"

"I've never done this before, I don't know what this is or where we're going with it." Deidara admitted quietly.

"We don't have to put a label on it. We can keep things super casual if you want. For your first real relationship and all." Hidan said, smiling. "If that's what you want, babe." Deidara's face burned at the nickname that somehow made him feel funnier than when Hidan called him princess.

"But... What if I don't want to be casual?"

"Wow, princess, are you asking me to be your boyfriend?" Hidan asked with a teasing smile, Deidara's face colored and he looked away awkwardly. "Two dates and I already sunk ya, huh?"

"Two dates? You consider me walking around with you shopping for shoes a date?" Deidara asked unimpressed and Hidan grinned at him.

"Hey you got to hang out with me, I got to hang out with you, it was a date. I even made you laugh a few times." Hidan said proudly. 

"Okay fine, it can be a date." Deidara said with an eye roll.

"I mean, I was going to count it anyway, irregardless what you said about it." Hidan said with a wink and Deidara stared at him with a blank expression. "I can't believe I'm being asked out, princess!"

"I'm not asking you out!" Deidara said quickly, his face turning red from embarrassment. Hidan watched Deidara begin to ramble with a smile plastered on his face only to cut him off with a kiss in the middle of the store.

"Of course I'll be your boyfriend, princess."

"I didn't ask you out though." Deidara said with a pout and blush. Hidan poked Deidara's nose with a laugh. "Okay. Fine. But I'm the man in the relationship now." Hidan laughed loudly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoooo-ooly shit guys I updated two fuckin stories today. Holla. Anyway, onto the questions.
> 
> 1) On a scale of 1-10, how badly have you missed this story?  
> 2) #sorrynotsorry I'm a slut for KakuHidaDei. It might be a thing later, might not. Idk. What are your thoughts?  
> 3) Finally some hot KisaIta lovins, did you enjoy???  
> 4) How did Neji sticking up for our girl Ino make you feel?
> 
> again guys, sorry this took so long. I was pretty fuckin' depressed. Still depressed now but I got a burst of inspiration and I drank two shots of espresso, so...


	83. Chapter 83

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh lets think.  
> Kisame and Itachi light smut  
> Ino and Hizashi say bye  
> Deidara teases Kakuzu  
> Gaara and Lee cute moment  
> Shikamaru has a slightly bigger role  
> Oh and of course KAKAGUY SMUT FINALLY HOLLA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **fistlord** : I'm so glad you commented first on both these. You're so gay I love you.   
> **Isis J Cox** : Thank you, I know I updated this back in april but like, I had another bout of depression. I can't promise I'm going to update super quick, but I tried. Hope you enjoy the chapter. And Kakagai smut for you bb.  
>  **Shannan** : Absolutely! Ihope you enjoy this chapter!  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Eyyyy Kakuhidadei *fingerguns* Sorry there's not as much KisaIta this chapter. But they will be in Bad Romance when that gets updated.  
>  **Vivi** :Reading your comments make me smile soI'm glad you leave them! Here's to hoping you enjoy the smut this chapter!  
>  **Yra** : Aww infinity out of 10?? Thats like, more than 11. :) and there's a certain part of your comment that made me chuckle ;) You'll find out why... eventually (like over a years time story wise, oops)  
>  **Dance_MrSandMan** : Aw you're so sweet. <3 And I made one couple wait 83 chapters (literally since they've been here since the beginning) so you can get off on their suffering)  
>  **Narutard** : Aw Hopefully I'll get the inspiration for Mama. It's been a while... and one of your comments has me like :X bc I wanna let everyone know so bad but I can't so you'll have to wait and see~~  
>  **Kookiee** : Yes they are, but it's still January. They're renewing their vows in the springtime because it's youthful ;)  
>  **PastelGrey** : Your comment had me laugh so hard when I read it. I am so sorry I kept you waiting this long again but just know I loved your comment.   
> **ox0hunny0xo** : You're adorable, stop. Were you in the server when you posted that comment? No I don't think so. SO that's precious, bye. <3  
>  **Erolf** : The best way to know whats going on with me is to follow my tumblr. Smoresiesfanfic. I usually have updates posted there and I draw doodles for my fics. So if you wanna know anything, head over there:) And thank you for your positive waves you're a sweetie.  
>  **WillowstreamHP** :Yes. I am alive. A lot has happened but I am here. Enjoy this chapter dear, there's not much Lee and Gaara but they're around. And happy super late birthday lol  
>  **IAintAsThinkAsYouDrunkIAm** :Thank you so much omg you're so sweet. There should be more Neji Lee in the next chapter~ (so many peoplewill fight me if there isn't a proper smut chapter for them oops)  
>  **Kantegi** : I know you were in my discord server for a little while, idk where you went but hopefully you're okay. Again, thank you for that fanart it was adorable and I still cherish it.  
>  **HidansCrazyLaugh** : Yeah, neji is a real JEKR. And BIH WAIT. I'm finna get some kakuhidadei up in this piece. And your fics are amazing and I love them.

Chapter 83:

"What are you up to, Gaara?" Lee asked curiously, sitting down next to Gaara on the couch. 

"I'm texting Kakuzu." Gaara said with a frown on his face. Lee perked an eyebrow at that. "It's nothing really, I'm just trying to convince him to do something is all." Gaara said and shut his screen off and turned to Lee, giving him his full attention. "But you're here now. So what can I help you with?"

"Oh, well, dad was saying how he wanted to start picking things out for their vow renewals. I was wondering if you wanted to go with us." 

"But..." Gaara furrowed his brow. "They're doing that in the spring, that's not for a few more months." Lee shrugged. "Alright. Let me get my things together and talk to Deidara. Ino should be back today."

"Alright. I will let dad know you are coming!" Lee said with a smile and jumped up from the couch.

Gaara walked upstairs where Deidara laid on his bed texting and peered over his phone. Gaara closed the door and sat on the chair, and stared Deidara down.

"What's up?" Deidara asked and tossed his phone to the side. 

"Apparently I am going on an adventure with my dads and Lee. Did you want to join?" Deidara pondered for a second, held up a finger, and grabbed his phone. He sent a quick text to Hidan and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't want to disrupt family time, hm. If Hidan can pick me up, I'll just go with him." Gaara nodded and leaned back in his chair.

"What do you think of Kakuzu?" He asked and Deidara paused and slowly smiled. "No, I am not asking because I'm interested."

"Then why are you asking, hm??" Deidara demanded and Gaara rubbed his face tiredly. 

"I was just curious. It seems that he might tag along with you guys if he tagged along yesterday. You're going to have to get used to him at some point." Gaara said and Deidara shrugged.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure what to think. We haven't actually spoken much. Do you think he doesn't like me, hm?" Gaara frowned at the question. He wasn't honestly sure how to answer that. He didn't think Kakuzu actively hated Deidara but it might sting to see the guy you like with someone else. "Is that a no?"

"He doesn't seem to hate you." Gaara answered finally and Deidara pouted. "I know that's not the answer you want, but everyone doesn't have to love you." Gaara said with a smirk, causing Deidara to roll his eyes.

"Yeah cause you're one to talk, hm." Gaara chuckled and shook his head. "How do I get Kakuzu to like me?"

"I don't know. Talk to him?" Deidara sighed and his shoulders sagged. "What?"

"I don't even know what he likes, hm. How can I be with Hidan if I can't even bond with his partner in crime?" Gaara bit his lip in thought. He really couldn't think of much Kakuzu talked about that showed he liked things at all.

"Uhh... Wait." Gaara tapped the side of his head, thinking. "Yesterday him and I spoke, he said he liked fishing." Deidara sat up a bit straighter.

"I like fishing too." He said and for whatever reason that surprised Gaara. "What? I'm not Ino, I'm not a total princess." He scoffed and Gaara smirked.

"Well I think Kakuzu likes camping and things along that nature."

"That's virtually useless to me right now, as it's winter time." Gaara pursed his lips and nodded, Deidara was right. "I'll figure something out..." Deidara grabbed his phone after it went off. "Okay, Hidan said him and Kakuzu will pick me up." Deidara tossed his phone again and walked over to the mirror to brush his hair. Gaara gave him a lingering look through the reflection on the mirror. "What?"

"Just lost in thought." Gaara said honestly and pushed himself off the chair to get dressed.

***

"Guy, I just don't see why you need to pick this color." Kakashi said with a heavy frown on his face. Guy smiled at the obnoxiously colored orange. 

"It's a very youthful color and it will be sure to do our love justice, rival!" Guy cried out and Kakashi sighed heavily and crossed his arms.

"I'll just be thinking of Naruto the whole time." Gaara muttered to Lee and Lee giggled.

"Me too." He whispered back and Kakashi gave them a side eye and they both snorted. "I think he heard us."

"You don't whisper very quietly, Lee." Kakashi deadpanned and Lee laughed louder.

"Rival! We can also have dark green!" Guy announced from halfway through the store.

"Oh good. Orange and green. That looks great together." Kakashi said dryly and walked towards Guy to hopefully calm him down enough that he wouldn't feel the need to scream across the store.

"Rival! We can have matching leg-warmers!"

"The hell we will..."

Gaara and Lee stood in the aisle laughing and Gaara shook his head and looked over at Lee have such a smile of delight on his face. Lee noticed Gaara wasn't laughing anymore so turned to him and smiled warmly. They stared at each other for a minute, Lee smiled shyly.

"Do you think we will be like that?" Lee asked and Gaara tilted his head to the side. Lee chuckled and shook his head, beginning to walk away. As he walked, he cocked his head to the side, giving Gaara another smile. "When we get married." 

Gaara stood in the hallway, his face completely red, but for whatever reason, he couldn't help but smile. He followed after Lee, looking down at the ground, lost in thought.

***

"Kisame, what are you doing?" Itachi asked as he entered the living room. Kisame sat on the floor, fixing something. "What is that?"

"My ukulele. It is out of tune." Itachi nodded and sat down on the floor next to Kisame, cradling a cup of coffee, huddled in a blanket. "Cold, Ku'u Lei?" Kisame teased and Itachi smiled at him and nodded. "Your house is so big, it must be hard to keep warm."

"I don't even try when I don't have Sasuke home. I keep just enough heat on to ensure the pipes don't freeze, but for the most part, that's it."

"You're still a good brother." Kisame said fondly and cupped Itachi's cheek. Itachi leaned into the warmth of his hand. "Nani 'oe." 

"Kisame..." Itachi warned softly. 

"What?" They stared at each other and Itachi bit his lip. "What is it, Ku'u Lei?" 

"Be careful." Itachi said finally and smiled. "You're tightening the string too much. Wouldn't want to put too much stress on--" Kisame pressed his lips to Itachi's roughly and kissed him hard. He grabbed the cup of coffee in Itachi's hands and put it off to the side so he was able to shove Itachi to the ground and climb on top of him. "Mmm! Kisame!" Itachi muffled into the kiss and pushed Kisame away.

"Sorry..." Kisame blushed and Itachi looked around the room warily. "What?"

"I don't know if Sasuke and Naruto are still here." Kisame smirked and cupped Itachi's flaccid cock in his hands and rubbed him, feeling it get harder. 

"Then don't be too loud." Kisame licked Itachi's neck and Itachi's head fell back with a moan. 

"Kisame, I don't have lube in the living room, we should go to the bedroom." Kisame stared at Itachi for a second, then smiled wolfishly. 

"Oh? You want to have sex?" Kisame purred and Itachi bit his lip.Before he could say something else, Kisame kissed him hungrily. "I want you so bad, Itachi." Kisame said against Itachi's lips.

"Then let's go upstairs." Itachi said softly and Kisame kissed him again before helping him up.

***

Deidara sat in the back seat which he was fine with but Hidan seemed to be annoyed that Kakuzu didn't move. Kakuzu was not in the best moods, like always. Deidara's heart hammered in his chest, just thinking about how stressful it was that Kakuzu seemed to hate him so much.

"I'll be right back you fucks." Hidan said and got out of the car. He ran in the store to pay for gas and Deidara awkwardly sat in the car and sent a few fleeting looks to Kakuzu.

"So how old are you anyway?" Deidara asked after a minute and Kakuzu turned his head slightly to face him.

"Old enough."

"For what?"

"To have a lot of worldly knowledge." Deidara frowned at the weirdness of that statement but made no comment on it. "Why are you with Hidan?"

"Why?" Deidara repeated, confused. It took a second for it to sink in. Oh. "Because I like him, hm."

"No one likes Hidan." Kakuzu said bluntly and Deidara chuckled.

"I do." He insisted. "And I think you do too." Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, Deidara smirked at him. "I'm old enough to know worldly things too."

"Brat." Kakuzu spat and Deidara smiled. "I don't like that zealot. This is incredibly elementary. Especially for a 19 year old." Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Say what you will, my man, but I can tell." Deidara said with a shrug and Kakuzu glared at him and looked away. "Why didn't you act on it before?"

"I'm not discussing these matters with you. Especially considering they aren't even real." Kakuzu said stiffly and Deidara smiled. "I'm serious." Deidara smiled wider.

***

"You ready to go, Ino?" Hizashi asked and she looked at him with a sigh. "I know. I don't want you to go either." He said and pulled her in for a hug. "Don't miss me too much at college."

"You know I will." She grumbled and Hizashi smiled warmly.

"I'll be a phone call away." He promised and Ino stared at him in the eyes. "Something wrong?"

"Are we like official? Are we exclusive? Like, what are we, I don't even know." Hizashi seemed surprised at the question, but smiled a second later.

"Ino, beautiful, lovely, Ino." He began and her cheeks warmed. "You're in college, so I don't know what you want. You are the first... intimacy I've had in quite some time, so I'm not looking elsewhere. It would help if I knew what you wanted. I don't want you to be tied down to an old man if you don't want to be." Ino grinned at him and smacked his arm playfully.

"Shut up, you aren't old." She said with a laugh and he chuckled and stared at her with such a look, she was breathless. He always looked at her that way. As if she were a prized possession. She got lost in his eyes in that moment, entranced by the essence of Hizashi. "I don't know what to do."

"You want to figure it out as we go?" Hizashi said with a soft grin as he cupped her face in his hands. Ino nodded with the cutest pout, Hizashi had to lean in and kiss her. "Okay. Well, don't let your college experience go to waste. But, I'm always here."

"My college experience won't go to waste if I'm with you." She responded with a perked eyebrow and he laughed. He kissed her tenderly and pulled her in for a sensual hug. They swayed for a minute, she loved the feeling of being so encompassed by his arms. She felt warm and safe. She looked up at Hizashi, he stared down at her and the corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile.

"Well then here's to us figuring it out. And you enjoying college."

"Here here." 

"Would you like me to bring your bags to the car?" She smiled wistfully. "No no. Don't get sad. I'll visit you if that's something you want." She nodded and buried her face into his chest. "Okay. I'll be sure to visit you. I promise."

"Thank you." 

"You're a treasure, Ino. You know that, right?" Ino glanced up at him and he smiled and tucked her bangs behind her ear to look at her face. "You're my treasure." Her eyes softened and she smiled.

***

"Rival." Guy said, effectively jerking Kakashi out of his daydreams. He blinked sleepily a few times and turned to face his husband. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, I'm fine, Guy." Kakashi insisted and Guy pulled him in by his arm and hugged him close. "What? I told you I'm okay."

"I love you." Guy said, against Kakashi's neck. 

"I love you too." Guy pulled away and let his hands clasp Kakashi's. "I'm just thinking, is all. Honestly, it's nothing to worry about."

"I always worry about you, rival. You should know me better by now." Guy insisted and Kakashi nodded and laced their fingers together. 

"Let's go for a walk." Kakashi suggested and Guy perked up quickly.

"I'd love to go on a walk with you." Guy said brightly and Kakashi smiled, wrapping his arms around Guy's neck pulled him down for a tender kiss.

The kiss lasted longer than he meant it to. Guy's body heat was warm and inviting and the way his strong hands ran up Kakashi's back and held him close like he was being cherished made Kakashi melt. 

Guy's hands traveled up Kakashi's back to his neck and he cupped Kakashi's jaw in his hands as they kissed. Guy's tongue slipped between the opening of Kakashi's mouth and slid against Kakashi's tongue in a tease. It had been so long since they made out and Guy realized he didn't want it to stop.

They stumbled back, Guy toppled over onto Kakashi, pinning him to their bed.They didn't care, the kissing continued and grew more heated. Guy gingerly kissed up Kakashi's jaw, down his neck and to his shoulders. Kakashi shivered at the touch and his lips curled up at the sensation.

"No one is home, rival." Guy said huskily and Kakashi nodded, his eyes half lidded. Lee and Gaara had left a while ago and wouldn't be home for another few hours. Kakashi bit his lip.

"Yeah?" Guy nodded his head vigorously. "What about the walk?"

"There are some things worth staying in bed for, rival." Kakashi was already making work on Guy's button up shirt. Guy fumbled with the bottom of Kakashi's shirt and soon after they threw both offending articles to the bedroom floor. 

Situating himself between Kakashi's thighs, Guy began to grind against Kakashi slowly enough to drag out a whine from the gray haired man. Kakashi's fingers dug into Guy's bare hips and bucked up against him. Guy kissed his husband again as he messed with Kakashi's pants to yank them down. Kakashi unbuttoned Guy's jeans at the same time. Their movements were quick and needy. Kakashi wanted Guy so bad he felt dizzy.

Pulling their pants off, Guy stumbled to get to the side of the bed with the lube in the nighstand drawer. He pulled it out victoriously and coated his fingers generously. Kakashi already had his legs spread and he stared at Guy and his muscular frame with half lidded eyes. 

Sliding a finger inside Kakashi made Guy's breathing hitch. It had been a while and just the tightness around his fingers was enough to get him more excited than he'd been in a long time. 

Kakashi's hole welcomed Guy's fingers easily. There was some resistance, but Kakashi was able to let the fingers prep his hole without trouble. 

"Tight as always, Kakashi." Guy praised and Kakashi wrapped his arms around Guy's neck to pull him down and kiss him again. Guy added another finger and precum started to gather on the slit of his cock. Grabbing the lube while kissing Kakashi, Guy rubbed his hardened length with it, making a strangled noise at the sensation. 

Kakashi was the one to grip Guy's dick and move it to his newly prepped hole. Guy didn't waste time sinking into the warmth of Kakashi's body. The room was filled with both of their moans of pleasure. Kakashi's head rolled back and Guy began to form a steady pace that rapidly got quicker. Kakashi's legs wrapped around Guy's waist to give him a better angle and Guy pushed himself back, pulling Kakashi from the mattress to his lap. Guy guided his husband on his erection, plunging in deeper. Kakashi's legs trembled at the force and just like that they were kissing sloppily again. 

In that moment Kakashi felt younger. It was just like having a quickie with Guy before classes in college or right before work. Their ages seemed to creep up on them but one thing was for sure, they always loved each other. Kakashi adored Guy with everything he had and he was thankful for the green and orange ball of energy who brought him flowers once a month, and still did to this day. 

As for Guy, Kakashi was his life. Through all the sarcastic comments and the joking words, Kakashi was always there in his time of need. Kakashi was his life partner and he couldn't be more grateful to have someone as caring be the co-parent to his child. 

"I love you so much, Kakashi Hatake-Maito."

"I love you too, Guy Hatake-Maito." Kakashi whispered and their kisses turned chaste again. 

Guy laid Kakashi down on the bed as they kissed, his hips rocking into Kakashi's slowly, giving Kakashi shivers down his spine.

"I'm so lucky you're mine." Guy said quietly against the shell of Kakashi's ear. "And that I'm growing old with you. And we're raising children together. You're my dream come true, rival. I'd marry you everyday if I could." Kakashi clung to Guy tightly. His body was shaking, Guy's cock was slowly rubbing against his prostate with long exaggerated thrusts. It prolonged his pleasure and Kakashi bit Guy's lip, sucking on it between his teeth. 

"God, Guy, you feel so good..." Kakashi groaned and kissed Guy's neck. "I love you."

"I know, rival." Guy gripped Kakashi's length in his hand and stroked it in time with his thrusts. Kakashi's back arched slightly, his toes gripping the sheets. If Guy was touching him already that meant he wanted Kakashi to cum. He bit his lower lip and watched Guy's slight dazed expression as he watched Kakashi slowly come undone under his touch. He loved the way Kakashi's head rolled back and he moaned and writhed. 

Guy was so focused on Kakashi he hadn't realized he was working himself up to finish. Kakashi's cock was dripping, the precum had seeped between his fingers making it easier to stroke him. 

"Fuck." Kakashi covered his burning face. It heated up the closer he got to his orgasm. Guy pulled Kakashi's hands away so he could see the hazy lust in Kakashi's eyes.

"Don't hide yourself from me, Kakashi." He said softly and Kakashi made eye contact with Guy and that was enough to have him finish all over his own stomach and leak down Guy's hand. "Good boy..." Guy praised and watched Kakashi flush beautifully at the comment.

The tightening helped aid Guy in his buildup but what pushed him over the edge was the beautiful color on Kakashi's cheeks and the glistening of his cum that was splattered all over his lover's torso. 

"You're so beautiful." Guy said and smothered Kakashi in kisses, loving the way Kakashi laughed under him.

***

"It's been awhile since we took a walk." Gaara mused, looking up at Lee. Lee seemed to be in a decent mood, despite everything that happened the night before. 

"Yes, I know. I apologize. I missed taking walks with you, Gaara." Lee said honestly and Gaara smiled to himself. He realized they were walking in the direction of the shop and wondered if Lee did that on purpose.

Even so, they went inside and they were met with a very irritated looking Shikamaru.

"You okay?" Gaara asked and Shikamaru just continued to stare blankly at him. "No?"

"Your sister. Is the spawn. Of satan." Gaara smiled at that and Shikamaru rubbed his face. "How the hell do you even deal with her? She's such a drag." 

"Yeah, but she's my sister." Gaara said with a shrug. "You two okay?" He asked, brow raised curiously. Shikamaru just stared at the counter in front of them. Gaara frowned. "No?"

"It's nothing." Shikamaru said stiffly and the bell rang behind them. Ino walked in with Hizashi and brightened when she saw Shikamaru and Gaara. "Look who's here." Shikamaru said with a lazy smirk. "Aren't you supposed to go back to college today?"

"Yeah, figured I'd stop in and get some coffee for my man, right?" She asked Hizashi behind her and he smiled at her.

"I would love some coffee for my drive."

"Awesome. I'll make it." Ino jumped over the counter and Shikamaru gave her a look of disapproval. She ignored it. "How are you, babe?" She asked Shikamaru and he crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. He watched her make a drink, and shortly after Gaara climbed over and joined her.

"I guess we're having a party back here." Shikamaru said dryly and Lee hopped over the counter. "I'm fine, Ino. How are you?" He asked and stepped out of their way as they all made themselves a drink. He didn't care, it made it so he didn't have to do it. 

"Same old." Ino said and pressed a cup on the counter for Hizashi and she looked at Shikamaru and hugged him tightly. He seemed surprised. "It's been so long! How are you and Temari?"

"Ugh..." His head fell back in irritation and Gaara stared at him curiously. 

"Are you going to tell us or are you going to continue to avoid the question?" Gaara asked as he sipped on his drink. Shikamaru pressed his lips together. He wasn't one to discuss his problems but with Ino's wide curious eyes on him and Gaara staring at him like that, he wasn't sure he'd be able to get out of this.

"We broke up." He said simply and Ino spit out her drink, making Shikamaru scowl at the spray that got on him. She covered her mouth and even Lee and Gaara looked surprised.

"What happened?!" Ino asked, not even apologizing for the shower she just gave him. 

"I don't feel like talking about it." He said honestly and Ino pouted and climbed back over the counter, glaring at him. She put her drink down and pointed.

"I need to send Hizashi off but after that I'm gonna get this story out of you even if I have to beat you to do it." She said seriously and the two of them left.

"Shikamaru, I am very sorry for your failed relationship." Lee said seriously and Gaara stared at him.

"Lee, who even says that..." He asked slowly then rolled his eyes and turned back to Shikamaru.

"We should go out tonight. All of us. To dinner." Lee said and grinned. "It will be like a boys night."

"Ino will be with us-"

"Yeah, boys night." Shikamaru agreed and Lee laughed.

***

A few hours later, the gang found themselves at a diner in the back booth. Shikamaru, Ino, Gaara, and Lee. They knew Sasuke and Naruto would throw a bitch fit for not being invited but at this point in time, they didn't care. Ino was all about the gossip and sat way too close to Shikamaru with an expectant expression. 

"Ino why are you so invested in this?" Shikamaru said with a groan. 

"You've been my friend for years and you think I'm not curious?" She deadpanned and he looked at Gaara for help.

"So Ino," He began, trying to figure something out to say. He looked to Lee for help and Lee just spat out the first thing he could think of.

"How is your blossoming relationship with Hizashi?" He asked and Gaara facepalmed. "What?"

"Good cheering up Shikamaru strategy, Lee. Let's talk about relationships that didn't end." Ino said flatly and Shikamaru shrugged.

"It honestly isn't a big deal." He said seriously. "I'm not upset about it. It happened. Move on."

"What the fuck are the odds of this shit?!" Hidan yelled from the doorway and Ino gaped. What the hell were they even doing here?

"Dee, hi. I thought you hated diner food." She said and he walked over and sat next to her, effectively squishing her into Shikamaru's side. Hidan grabbed another table and put it against the booth table and sat next to Deidara. Kakuzu sat across from Hidan and next to Gaara.

"I hate the diner food at the diner near college. I have no idea if I like this one or not. Plus, it's cheap." He said and Kakuzu gave an appreciative nod.

"Okay but is there like a reason you're molesting me with your entire left side of your body?" Ino asked and Shikamaru scrunched his nose.

"At least you aren't being shoved into a wall." He said with obvious discomfort.

"Hey who the fuck are you, do I know you? I think we met?"

"That's Shikamaru. He's was my buddy when we were smol beans." Ino introduced and there seemed to be a secret conversation between Ino and Deidara with the use of only eyes and eyebrows. 

"Ohhh." Deidara finally conceded and gave an awkward wave. "Sup, I'm Deidara, hm. This is Hidan and Kakuzu."

"Hi." Shikamaru said uncomfortably. This entire night was turning out to be more stressful than what it was worth.

"What brings you guys here anyway?" Deidara asked and grabbed Ino's plate of food and started picking at it. She didn't even say anything.

"Shikamaru was dumped by Gaara's older sister." 

"Dumped? When did I say I was dumped?" Shikamaru argued with a flush. 

"That was heavily implied. Were you not?" Gaara asked and Shikamaru grumbled and let his head rest on the glass. The wall really was hurting his side. 

"It was a mutual thing I guess. But that doesn't even matter. I don't want to talk about this anymore, it's a waste of breath." Shikamaru said with a groan and Gaara frowned. He wasn't close with Shikamaru, but he could tell Shikamaru wasn't as okay as he let on.

"Are you going to stay at the bakery?" Ino asked softly, so quietly it was hard for anyone else to hear. Shikamaru looked up at her for a minute and gave a curt nod.

"I'm... Going to go back to school." She smiled brightly.

"What school are you going to?" She asked and he shrugged uselessly. He could get into any school he wanted to. He just wasn't sure what he'd go for. "Come to my school, Shika~." He raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you go to an art school?"

"So?"

"... Ino, I'm not artistic. No." She pouted at him and looked at Gaara warningly.

"You better go to school with me." She said and he put his hands up defensively. 

"Already sent in my application." Ino perked up instantly and she smiled warmly at Gaara. Lee seemed bummed at the aspect but he couldn't have expected Gaara to go to his school. He was artistic, he should thrive somewhere else, not in his school. 

"Speaking of... What's going on with you and Neji? He's been a real... uh... strange fellow." Ino said, her expression thoughtful. Lee just smiled awkwardly.

"We got into a fight? I guess. So there is that. Sorry, was he mean to you?" Lee asked, honestly concerned and Ino shook her head quickly, not wanting to admit that Neji actually did hurt her feelings earlier. "Good. Him and I are going to have a discussion when I get back to school. I wanted to go tonight but it seems that it is too late. Are you going tonight Ino?"

"Yeah, gotta get out of here soon. Ain't that right Dee?" She asked and Deidara just looked at her with a pout. "You'll see your boyfriend eventually." She said with an eye roll.

"Yeah hold on, actually, I need a smoke." Hidan said and raised from the table. Deidara scowled and Hidan pat him on the top of the head. Shikamaru perked slightly.

"Mind if I bum one from you?" Hidan smirked up at him.

"For a guy who just got dumped? Come on, bud, you get all the cigarettes." He said and everyone filed out of the bench to let Shikamaru leave the diner with Hidan. Kakuzu didn't look impressed and Ino crossed her arms as she watched them leave.

"Maybe they can become friends and Shikamaru can stop being an uptight bitch." 

"Oh yeah, assign the moron Hidan to do that. That'll go over well." Kakuzu grumbled and Deidara laughed.

"Seriously though, Hidan is useless but whatever." Deidara said smiling.

"Are you shit talking your own boyfriend? Oh, scandalous." Ino said, smirking and Deidara threw a piece of the decorative lettuce at her. 

"Speaking of boyfriends, Ino, are you and Papa Neji a thing yet?" Ino shrugged her shoulders.

"He told me to enjoy college, whatever that means. But that he would be there. I don't know what that means either."

"That means he doesn't like you, ya crazy bitch." Ino smacked Deidara upside the head. "Ow. See? This is why he didn't ask you out. Think of it this way, you can fuck everyone at college now."

"Why the fuck would I do that?" Deidara smirked but before he could respond, she smacked him again. "I'm not a skank, you bitch."

"Is there someone you want to sleep with before you two make it official? If there is, do it now." Lee said with a grin and Ino glared at him. 

"I am honestly fine. I don't need to sleep around, I have Hizashi." She said stiffly and crossed her arms.

"Guys can you leave Ino alone?" Gaara said with a sigh. Although, they had a lot to discuss. Primarily her actions today. And Gaara had to admit, he was very curious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was two pages longer than normal FYI.
> 
> I can't remember what I wrote tbh. I was on auto pilot. I hope you enjoyed anyway.
> 
> 1) how do you feel about Hizashi not wanting things official? Do you think Ino should sleep with someone else? If so, who?  
> 2) Would you like to see Shikamaru more?  
> 3) How would you feel about a time skip to graduation? (Of course with the added clip of the vow renewals. I believe its January or beginning of February? Vow renewals are in May. Graduation is June. Or do you like the pace of each chapter being basically like a day?  
> 4) It's been a while since I've asked this. I believe I have new commenters and more developed characters since last time so who is your favorite character? (who is your least favorite character?) you can add why if you'd like :)
> 
> Thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed!


	84. Chapter 84

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot of Hidan. I am not sorry for this.
> 
> This 5 months later at Kakashi and Guy's vow renewal party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **fistlord** : I hope this chapter was everything you dreamed of. I love youuu  
>  **ox0hunny0xo** : Ihope you find the easter egg I wrote for you.  
>  **OnceAndAlwaysEnglishMajor** : Thank you for your comment bb ;* I don't even know what I'm doing soI can't wait to see what I do either tbh  
>  **IAintAsThinkAsYouDrunkIAm** : Thank you~! and unfortunately Neji was not added into this chapter. Whomp.  
>  **MirSama** : Well obviously Kisame and Itachi stay together they're lovely.  
>  **TreesAreLoveTreesAreLife** : I'm not sure ifI'll write what happened to them. idk. Im glad you still enjoy after all this time.  
>  **HidansCrazyLaugh** : I love you. So much.I'm glad you're enjoying what's going on even in your old age bb  
>  **Can.can** : I'm glad you love Shikamaru because he's my boy. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!  
>  **Erolf** : Thank you~! I missed you guys! uh you can follow me on literally anything under smoresies. (Except Pokemon go, I'm Smorsies because I spelled it wrong and Snapchat I'm Smoreflake because Smoreses was taken.) But I'm usually on tumblr under Smoresesfanfic. I usually post art and comics I draw. I'm happy you like my writing!

Chapter 84:

"Itachi, is everything set?" Gaara asked and Itachi pressed the button on his earpiece, mumbling a question and paused. He nodded. "Good. Where is Guy and Kakashi?" 

"They should be getting ready now. Are you almost done?" Itachi asked and Kisame walked into the barn kitchen. 

"Hey, Guy's pants ripped and he's having a moment." Gaara slouched and put his offset spatula down. "Should I get Lee?"

"No. Lee can't do anything. Is Deidara here?" 

"Yeah, he's up with Ino,Hidan and Shikamaru." Gaara pursed his lips. It would be hard to separate that clique. 

"Where is Kakuzu? Is he not here yet?" Gaara asked worriedly and at that moment, Kakuzu walked into the small kitchen.

"I'm here. Why?" Gaara wasn't going to ask why Kakuzu seemed to just be waiting there. He pointed up, in the general direction of the room Guy would be located in. 

"I need your help. Guy ripped his pants. The ceremony is in 30 minutes." Kakuzu stared blankly at Gaara, but sighed and turned around. "Thank you!" 

God, this damn vow renewal ceremony was more problems than it was worth. 

"How are we looking for the food?" Itachi asked and peered into the hot box that kept everything. Gaara opened his mouth to answer but Temari and Kankuro stumbled into the room quickly.

"Gaara, I'm so sorry we're late-"

"You're fine. Dinner hasn't started yet." Temari breathed a sigh of relief and Gaara put the finishing touches on the cake. "So the tables are set?"

"Yes, Gaara. Wine glass, water glass, champagne glass, dinner plate, salad plate two forks, two knives, a spoon, and a napkin. Everything is up to parr. Ino already put the flowers out. The settings are completely straight. Kiba is here setting up his equipment. I have the bartenders setting up the bar. Everything will be fine. Don't stress." Gaara gave him a side look and sighed, nodding. 

"You're right. I'm just... I need this to be perfect." Itachi smiled.

"Yeah I know. And everything is going perfectly now. You're doing a great job." Gaara looked up with a frown.

"Everything but Guy's pants..." He said with a sigh. Ino walked into the room and smiled awkwardly.

"Hi everyone." She waved and looked at Gaara. "Babe, you have to get changed now. The photographer wants pictures." Gaara looked down at his chef jacket and nodded with a sigh. "Sorry guys, think you can handle it from here?" She asked, kind of uncomfortably and yanked on Gaara's arm and pulled him out of the room.

"Ino, why are you acting strange?" He asked and her face burned but she kept her mouth shut tight. "Ino-"

"I'll tell you later. Let's just get you ready. I know you're their chef, but you're also their son and they'll be upset if you aren't in the pictures." She insisted and Gaara knew she was right but it didn't make him feel any less weird with Ino right now. She was acting strange since she got back from college for the party. 

The passed few months had been interesting enough. There were odd friendships developed and even weirder relationships. Sasuke and Naruto were always fighting so Gaara had no idea what that even was. Kakuzu was still an awkward third wheel but oddly enough it wasn't between Hidan and Deidara. Between Hidan and Shikamaru which was a friendship no one saw blossoming. The two were always together, they even took day trips to Ino's college with each other. Kakuzu went sometimes, but for the most part he's pulled back from his and Hidan's friendship. If one could even call it that.

A new friendship that was also surprising was Kisame and Kakuzu. It was interesting to see considering Kakuzu was so grumpy and Kisame was just so happy. Itachi was working a lot more during this season so sometimes Kakuzu and Kisame spent more time together than Kisame and Itachi. 

Gaara hadn't seen much of Lee since February. It was the beginning of May and Gaara hadn't spoken much to Lee since he saw him last. He didn't mind too much, his time was being occupied in seventeen different directions. 

"I didn't know your siblings would be here." Ino said finally once they made it to one of the private upstairs rooms. She spoke quietly, since the walls weren't soundproof. Gaara raised a brow, attempting to prompt her into speaking. Her face burned hot and Gaara didn't know what to think of that. Ino had talked to him every day and lately she was weird but this was the first day she was actually seeing him in person. He put his arm on her shoulder and made her stare at him so she knew he was giving her a look of support.

"Ino did something happen?" Gaara asked. "You can tell me. I'm your best friend." Ino looked up at him, her embarrassed expression slightly sheepish. She tucked hair behind her ear and nodded. 

"I made out with Shikamaru." She admitted, embarrassed. "It was when Hidan and him came up to see Dee. Hidan and Dee went to do something, so Shika and I hung out and I don't know... we just..."

"You only made out?" She nodded slowly. "Okay. Well... Did you want to do more?" That's when her face turned even more red. "Ino, talk to me." Gaara led her to the small sofa in the room and she slouched on it. 

"It's just... Hizashi is so wonderful and I want to be with him but then I feel like shit because he was absolutely right about me. And I really did want to sleep with Shika and I don't even know why because we've been friends for like ever and him and your sister broke up after dating for years and I just don't know." She said and played with her hair nervously.

"Hizashi is the one to tell you to live and experience. He's a lot older than you, Ino. And I think he's telling you this and keeping things open because he likes you so much. Let's say you get married but you've been dating him for so long that you never got to go through your whole early twenties, figure out life shit and regret it. Not saying you will. But I'm saying Hizashi wants you to not have regrets before he makes things official. And if sleeping with Shikamaru is something you might regret not doing, maybe you should." Ino stared at Gaara with mild surprise for a second before grinning wide.

"Gaara, are you ho-coaching me?" She asked, giggling and he glared at her. She pulled him in for a hug and he held her there. "And I'm just realizing you grew and you have muscles now. I'm so sad I didn't see you for months." She said while they hugged and poked his sides. He flinched away, ticklish and she giggled. "Thank you, Gaara. But why aren't you mad? Temari and Shika dated for years."

"They were never happy." Gaara replied. "Not like I've seen Shikamaru happy since they broke up. I don't see them all the time, but I see them fairly often. And he's happy now. And Temari isn't crying over it."

"Thank you..." Gaara wasn't sure what she was thanking but she stood up and gathered his clothes. "Time to get dressed."

***

"When I saw you for the first time, I knew I wanted to marry you. Now, here we are, so many years later, and renewing our vows to each other. We're in front of friends we've always had, and friends we've just made. Family that we've created, and family that we knew belonged to us in our hearts. I've raised a child with you. I've fostered children with you. I've lived my life with you as my other half longer than I've lived my life without you. I couldn't be more grateful and each day I'm finding new reasons to love you. Your youth still shines just as brightly as before and but now your wisdom from living is greater. You're the most caring person I know and you open your heart to everyone and I'm grateful that you've chosen me as your husband. I still hold true to every vow we've given and I want to vow more to you. I've promised you everything I could think of and I'm proud that I managed to give that all to you. Kakashi, my eternal rival, I would go to the end of the earth for you. I would do whatever you needed me to do if I could see you every day. I vowed until death due us part but, death won't even stand in the way of my love for you. I love you." Guy smiled proudly, albeit crying and Kakashi wiped the tears from his eyes and pulled out a paper of his own. He unfolded it.

"Guy. I know it's quite literally my job to write and edit things, but this was much harder to do. There's word I don't know what to say, and feelings I'm not sure how to express. You're my person. I would do anything for you and I'm blessed to have been married to you as long as we've been married. You've changed since we've been married, as have I. But we've grown together in a way that made it great. We compliment each other and I don't know where I would be right now had I not found you. I'm lucky to have even gotten to know you, let alone marry you. All those years ago when we got married, now I'm renewing my vows today for you to promise that I will never break a single one. I vow to love you. I vow to cherish our marriage. I vow to let you drag me on nature walks even when I'd much rather sit and read. I vow to taste your cooking even though you can't cook very well." Guy started laughing through his tears. "And I vow that I'll be at your side for the rest of my life. And I will be buried next to you when the time comes. Because even in death, there's no one I'd rather be next to."

Everyone watching the ceremony was clapping. Lee was sobbing and Gaara pat his back. Ino was crying slightly so Hidan pat her head like a dog and she glared at him. 

The ceremony was held outside the barn the party was in. In a flower garden with different flowers in bloom. The trees were a lush green and the grass was beautiful, no dead patch in sight. The sky was blue with a few white clouds scattered around. It was about 70 degrees (F) outside and everything seemed perfect. 

Once the vows were finished everyone was able to go to a different area that was set up for a bar. Cocktail hour had an opened bar with cocktail servers coming out with various hors d'oeuvres. 

Guy and Kakashi went to take some photos by themselves and Gaara and Lee decided to find a small area to sit in to wait until they were dragged over to take pictures with them. There was a section covered in trees with a few benches. Gaara and Lee sat on one bench. Ino and Shikamaru sat on the middle bench, and Hidan and Deidara sat on the third bench. 

"I'm impressed you're actually out of your leather jacket, Hidan. I thought that wasn't your style." Ino said as Hidan crossed his legs and put his arm on the bench behind Deidara. "Look at you in suspenders. So cute." 

"Ah, shut it, blondie." Hidan said with his nose wrinkled. Ino giggled. "I look damn sexy in suspenders. Right babe?" 

"Yeah." Deidara and Shikamaru said at the same time and Gaara and Lee looked curiously at Shikamaru.

"Did you just... respond to the pet name "babe"?" Lee asked and to Shikamaru's credit, he didn't blush. He just shrugged.

"Hidan calls everyone babe." He said simply and continued staring up at the sky. 

"He had a point." Deidara said with a pout and Hidan laughed and playfully shoved his arm. "Don't fuckin push me, hm." Deidara warned with a narrowed gaze.

"Don't be a dick."

"Stop calling everyone babe then." Hidan made a dramatic show of rolling his eyes and Deidara raised an eyebrow at him. "I forgot that Shikamaru was your home boyfriend. I'm just your side piece, hm." Hidan grinned over at Shikamaru and tugged on his sleeve.

"Hey babe, we got it all wrong, it turns out you are my bottom bitch." He said and Ino snorted. Shikamaru gave an unimpressed look and Hidan pouted at it. "Don't look so pleased with the knowledge."

"I'm not impressed. If I'm your bottom bitch, that means I have to live with you and I've seen your apartment and I'd rather not." Deidara looked scandalized.

"You brought Shikamaru to your apartment? I knew you two were fucking." He said and smirked, Shikamaru seemed more embarrassed but ignored the comment and Hidan grabbed Deidara and pulled him close. He leaned into Deidara's ear, his look of glee nearly splitting his face in two.

"Oh. You would know if I was fucking Shikamaru." He teased and Shikamaru glanced up and glared at Hidan. "Hey, I never said we were. I just said he'd know." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Gaara shared a look with Ino before he was dragged off to take pictures.

***

Heated kisses were shared in the darkened corner of the bathroom. The sound of clothes being fumbled with seemed to be louder in the unlit room and the kisses were hushed and giggles were shared between the two. Both were slightly intoxicated, their breath smelling like alcohol, but neither cared, the scent of the coconut cream hand soap covered any other smell. 

"We shouldn't. Anyone could walk in." Came the first voice, laughing softly.

"Good." The second voice, much huskier sounded. 

"But what about-"

"I don't care."

As the mutual touching began, the delicate sounds of stifled moans echoed in each other's ears and they realized the muffled sounds of their shared session in the bathroom would stay with them as a memory of Kakashi and Guy's party forever.

***

"Kuu Lei. Are you alright?" Kisame asked concerned and Itachi blinked and looked up at him tiredly. "Working too much, my love."

"I know." Itachi said and rubbed his face. Kisame wrapped his arms around the smaller male and they swayed on the side of the dance floor. It was wonderful to be so close to each other but Itachi was just tired. There was so much work to be done and even though he was enjoying himself being at the party, a part of him knew he should've stayed home and done work. He'd been completely swamped for weeks.

"Let yourself enjoy the moment. You don't get to go to Guy and Kakashi's vow renewal ceremony every day. You can work whenever you'd like." Kisame said wisely and Itachi smiled and shook his head. "You know I'm right, Kuu Lei, so just relax and let the party be fun to you."

Kisame leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Itachi's lips and Itachi hummed happily in response. They stopped swaying and Kisame pulled away just enough to look into Itachi's eyes. The moment was intimate and Itachi wanted it to never end. 

"Alright everyone, whoever wants to go, the bonfire is starting. Grab your s'mores kits from your table!" Lee shouted and him and Gaara walked off the barn porch and Itachi watched them walk to the large fire. 

"What is on your mind?" Kisame asked and Itachi looked up at Kisame.

"That I'm about to lose Gaara next month to college." He said wistfully and Kisame gave a sad smile. "He was accepted to go to Ino's school. The house will be quiet without him."

"He can always spend time with you." Kisame said warmly and Itachi nodded slowly. "Come, let's roast marshmallows."

Deidara leaned against the wall with Ino and sighed as they watched people file out from the barn. His irritation spiked the longer he stood there without knowing where Hidan was. Ino was looking at her nails as if it was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. Deidara was acting strangely lately and she was pretty sure Hidan was the reason why. 

"What's bothering you, Dee?" She asked finally after the 6th time of Deidara making a grumbled noise of irritation.

"Don't you think it's convenient that Hidan and Shikamaru are missing at the same time?" Deidara asked with an arched brow. Ino looked around the room and she had to admit, she hadn't noticed at all.

"So what are you thinking? Them playing a stupid prank on Kakuzu and didn't invite us? Rude." Ino said and began to pick under her nail boredly. Deidara didn't leave the wall for the passed 20 minutes and she was tired of standing. 

"I think they're actually fucking." Deidara deadpanned and Ino choked on her saliva. 

"Are you fucking joking right now?" Ino whispered harshly. Deidara gave her a flat look. "Why would you think that?"

"I know you're too busy giving goo-goo eyes at Shikamaru-"

"I am not-"

"But I can't... hm... It's... just something I know."

"Did you want to look at for them, guns blazing?" Ino asked and Deidara smirked slowly."What's that look for?" He chuckled darkly and pulled all of his hair back. Ino followed suit and they both began to climb the stairs that led to the bridal party bathroom.

***

"These are very good!" Lee said, surprised and Gaara couldn't help but smile at him. He seemed genuinely happy that s'mores tasted good. 

"They are quite simple to make too." Gaara said, smiling. Lee giggled and wiped the corner of Gaara's mouth.

"You had some marshmallow on your face." Lee admitted and licked the cream from his finger. Once he realized what he did, his felt his body freeze and all he could see were those aqua colored eyes. His eyes flickered to the corner of Gaara's mouth and he couldn't help but wish that he could've licked it directly from his lips. 

"Thank you..." Gaara said quietly and gave a shy smile to Lee. 

It shouldn't still feel like this but it did and Gaara hated how flustered he got when Lee did something cute. The air was colder all of a sudden but Gaara couldn't feel warmer than he had. His eyes never left Lee's and he was at peace.

For a few seconds.

"Gaara, I need to talk to you." Temari said and Gaara turned to her. "I don't know what happened, but the cake..."

"No." Gaara took off running to the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. 

The cake he spent hours and days, even, making fell over. He covered his face and felt like crying. 

"Sure, it fell but you covered the layers in fondant so it won't be pretty but everyone can have cake. And I know you're upset but you know Guy and Kakashi won't mind." Kankuro tried to placate nervously. Gaara took in a deep breath.

"Who did it?" He asked and they shrugged. "You don't know?"

"It was like that when we went back into the kitchen, Gaara." Temari said and there was nothing on hers or Kankuro's face that indicated they were lying. Perhaps Gaara forgot to structure the cake correctly and the weight toppled it over. 

"I need a minute." Gaara walked off, headed towards the back gazebo where no one should've been, but there were people there. Gaara tilted his head and was smacked in the face with a grossly pungent smell. He followed up the steps and he saw Hidan, Shikamaru and oddly enough Kakashi and Guy.

"Gaara!" Guy cheered and Gaara looked at the offending object. It seemed to be a cigarette of sorts. After Guy yelled, he started coughing and handed the cigarette to Kakashi.

"Don't do drugs." Kakashi said and inhaled, passing it to Hidan.

"What is even going on?" Gaara asked confused and Guy and Kakashi giggled at the innocence of their son. "What's so funny?"

"It's weed, Gaara." Shikamaru said simply, an actual cigarette hanging from his mouth. He was sitting rather close to Hidan. He took out his cigarette and it was replaced with the joint. Once he took a hit, Hidan took it back. Shikamaru waited several seconds before exhaling a puff of smoke. 

"Why are you guys..." Gaara trailed off.

"Because it was my fuckin wedding gift for them. To be super high like how they used to be, right?" Hidan winked and Guy dissolved into a fit of giggles. "These two were the OG stoners." Hidan said, almost proudly. Shikamaru leaned more on Hidan. "Fuck, Shik' are you falling asleep? This is why I don't ever fuckin get high with you." Hidan said with a pout.

"There you are!" Ino and Deidara shouted and Deidara paused. 

"Are you... getting high? With the guests of honor?" Deidara asked, momentarily taken back. Hidan nodded and handed the joint back to Kakashi.

"Yeah what did you think I was doing?" Hidan asked and took Shikamaru's cigarette from his mouth.

"Hey... I was smokin' that..." He said tiredly and the soft snores indicating he was sleeping sounded through the gazebo. He was leaning against Hidan's shoulder and Hidan rolled his eyes.

"Fuckin' lazy ass." He said with a laugh and started working on Shikamaru's cigarette. He turned his attention to Deidara with a perked eyebrow. "So what did you think I was doing?" Deidara's face turned red. "What?"

"We thought you were fucking Shikamaru." Ino said flatly and Hidan perked an eyebrow.

"Princess, what did I say to you? If I fucked Shikamaru, you would know about it." Hidan flicked the ashes from the cigarette and exhaled the smoke through his nostrils. "What's with you talking about me fucking Shikamaru anyway? You've been on this kick lately."

"What are you talking about?" Deidara asked and Kakashi laughed.

"You have." He agreed and Hidan gestured Kakashi looking at Deidara, as if saying "see what I mean?"

"I'm not on your case about you fucking Ino. Or Kiba. Or Hinata. Or even Gaara." Hidan said easily and Deidara huffed.

"That's because you wouldn't care if I did or not..." He muttered and Hidan raised a brow but it dissolved into a smirk. 

"Why? You lookin at someone? I think I could arrange something..." He raised an eyebrow at Ino and she shook her head slowly. "Well, shit."

"This is what I'm talking about." Deidara snapped.

"What do you mean?" Hidan pressed the embers of the lit cigarette into the ashtray and bent the filter. 

"Nothing." Deidara huffed and stormed off. Hidan watched him go and instantly was annoyed. He wanted to enjoy his high and make fun of Shikamaru for falling asleep on him. Instead, he had to gently maneuver Shikamaru off his shoulder and onto a lying position on the bench they sat on. He saluted Kakashi and Guy and nodded at Ino and Gaara and sought off to find his boyfriend.

His really fucking dramatic primadonna boyfriend. 

When he found Deidara, he was sulking under a tree, forever away from civilization. He plopped down next to the blonde and waited about 36 seconds before Deidara started venting to him with such a long string of complaints it was hard to keep up. Hidan inwardly groaned, hating when Deidara got like this. 

"I just feel like you don't give a fuck." Deidara ended with and since he didn't talk for a few seconds after that, Hidan turned to him and perked a brow.

"Is this your closer?" He asked and Deidara glared but nodded. "Sex. Isn't. Love." He said flat out. "You and I have not had sex. You and I have told each other we loved each other. I. Love. You. But, I also love sex. I've had sex with people and not cared about them. But I didn't date them. Dei, I never pressured you into fucking me. I know you're scared, and whatever. I don't care. But me being sexually interested in someone doesn't mean I don't love you."

"So you're admitting to sleeping with someone else?" Deidara asked, his temper rising.

"Babe. I won't answer that with a yes or no. Remember what you told me?" Hidan asked and Deidara grit his teeth.

"I didn't want to have sex, but if you wanted it, bother someone else. Just don't tell me about it." He said, annoyed. He mainly said that to try and push Hidan and Kakuzu into some form of relationship. He could tell Kakuzu was interested, but Hidan was too damn dense. 

"Exactly. So I'm not saying if I did or didn't." That pissed off Deidara even more. Why wouldn't Hidan just admit to fucking someone else? No one withheld the information of them not having sex with someone else, so clearly Hidan slept with someone. 

"You're an asshole." Deidara said, seething. Hidan sighed. "You should just tell me if you did."

"Why do you want to know all of a sudden? You haven't cared for months. Now all of a sudden it's a problem? What's your issue?"

"My issue?" Deidara asked, angry. "My issue is you. You're infuriating, hm!" 

"You're always angry at me, even when I didn't do anything wrong." Hidan said flatly and Deidara clenched his teeth. "You always expect me to do something wrong. It's fucking annoying. Especially because all the shit you want me to do for you. And I do it gladly because I fuckin love you, but shit, Dei, you're making it hard." Deidara let himself shut up long enough to realize that yes, he was being crazy and looked down at the ground, ashamed. 

"You're right, hm." He said quietly and Hidan smiled at him. "I'm sorry."

"Nah babe, you're good. I love your crazy ass anyway." Hidan pulled Deidara in for a tight hug. 

"Even if I don't put out?" Deidara asked, half jokingly and Hidan looked at him.

"Yeah babe. Even then.You've kept me this long. Everyone is scared of something." Deidara bit his lip in thought and his hands rubbed up and down the sides of Hidan's pants until they travelled to the middle where his zipper was. Hidan's breathing hitched. "Babe, what are you doing?" 

"Apologizing." Deidara said simply and rubbed the slowly forming bulge. It didn't take long for Hidan's cheeks to warm with desire and Deidara smirked. If there was one thing he learned that shut Hidan up, it was rubbing his dick. And Deidara was quite good at it.

Taking Hidan out of his pants, Deidara sunk to his knees and gave a long lick to the underside of Hidan's cock and swirled his tongue around the tip. His nose wrinkled slightly. The scene of coconut was overpowering. Since when did Hidan change his body wash? Deidara's eyes flickered up to Hidan's face and saw he was immersed in the blow job to even realize. Then the thought came to his mind, why would Hidan's dick smell like the soap used in the barn bathroom?

***

"Gaara! Before this night ends, I would like to dance with you." Lee announced after Gaara was able to drag their very stoned fathers back from the gazebo. Ino promised she would stick around and wait for Shikamaru to eventually wake up.

"Uh, sure." Gaara agreed and Lee grabbed his hand and dragged him to the dance floor. "So Lee, how is college treating you?"

"College is okay. Lots of work. It is very hard sometimes but I do like it a lot." Gaara nodded with a soft smile.

"Sorry Neji couldn't come." Neji, Hinata and Hizashi all went on a family vacation with the rest of the Hyuga clan, unfortunately. Lee shrugged.

"It is okay. I see Neji all the time. I will survive." Lee said with a laugh and Gaara nodded as they swayed with the song. "I have a strange feeling about the vibe of this party. Do you agree?"

"Yes." Gaara said simply. His eyes looked around the room and it was just strange. There was so much drama going on that didn't need to be happening and both of his dads... Well...

They sat at the sweetheart table giggling and feeding each other tiny pastries. Guy would try to feed Kakashi and Kakashi would turn his head, getting the cream smeared on his cheek and then snort and the two of them laughed and kissed. Guy's hand laced with Kakashi's and they mumbled to each other. 

"I am lucky to be their son." Lee said seriously, Gaara nodded.

"Me too." If there was one thing the couple taught Gaara, it was that healthy relationships existed, and people loved their children. 

"You did a great job, Gaara. Everything ran smoothly." Lee complimented and Gaara wrinkled his nose. It didn't, but it was sweet of Lee to lie to him. "I think everything was great."

"Thank you, Lee. Although I think there's some drama with Deidara and Hidan."

"Really? What makes you think that?" Lee asked and Gaara stopped swaying and looked beyond Lee's shoulders. Lee turned around and it did look like the two were getting into a heavy argument, Lee winced.

"I would not wish to be Hidan." He said and Gaara frowned at that. He liked Hidan, but Deidara should be more wary of a man that called on a hit for someone. That probably wasn't even the first time, either. "Should we break them up?"

"No." Gaara said quickly. The last thing Lee needed was to get on Hidan's bad side. 

"What's going on?" Ino asked and Gaara turned to her and shrugged. "I finally got Shikamaru up." She said and they turned to a table where Shikamaru was already sleeping with his head down."At least I got him out of the gazebo." 

"The bus should be here soon. Then we can all go." Gaara said and watched Kakuzu walk across the field where Deidara and Hidan were, grab Deidara, throw him over his shoulder, he pointed at Hidan and said something, and walked away with Deidara angrily thrashing.

"Everything okay?" Gaara asked and Kakuzu stared at him blankly. "Yeah, dumb question, I realize. What's wrong, Dei?" Kakuzu plopped Deidara down on the ground next to Gaara and stared at him challengingly as if daring him to fight with Hidan more.

"Hidan is a slut." Deidara said, lips pushed together in an irritated way. 

"Care to discuss?" Gaara asked and Deidara shook his head and stomped off, Kakuzu sighing and following shortly after. 

"Should someone find out what the hell happened?" Lee asked and Ino shrugged her shoulders. She liked gossip so she figured she would.

"Be right back." She brushed passed Gaara and walked over to Hidan who was now laying in the field, sprawled out, staring at the sky. "What are you even doing?"

"Habit I got from Shik'." Hidan said gruffly and Ino sat down next to him."What are you doing?" 

"What happened?" Ino asked flatly and Hidan sighed and made no indication that he was going to talk. "Hidan."

"Listen, he's your best friend, I ain't gonna shit talk him. He's just fuckin' confusing and I can't keep up with him sometimes." Ino laid next to Hidan and looked at the sky too. It was dark and the stars looked beautiful. "I ain't saying I'm an angel by any means, but fuck, I don't know."

"Why don't you try explaining what happened." Ino said simply and Hidan gave her a look. "I'm Dee's friend but I'm your friend too. We tag each other in shit like all the time. What more do you want from me?" 

"Fine. Sheesh, women." He muttered and Ino sighed, another habit he got from Shikamaru, no doubt. "Dei is scared to fuck which is totally fine. And he told me forever ago that he didn't want to fuck so if I wanted to fuck, fuck someone who wasn't him but don't tell him. And now he's pissed because I won't tell him if I did fuck someone or not but like, he shouldn't care either way."

"I thought you two were okay for a minute though." Ino said, leaving the rest of the conversation for after her questions. 

"Yeah, then he started sucking my dick and got mad at me because it smelled like the hand soap in the barn bathroom so freaked out on me." Ino looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Why did your dick smell like the hand soap from the bathroom?" Hidan gave her a blank look. "You fucked someone in the bathroom?" He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why...? Deidara was here, that was stupid of you."

"I know! And I already got screamed at for it." Ino wanted to smack her forehead. How dense could some guys be? 

"Who was it?" Ino asked and Hidan sighed and didn't say anything. For whatever reason, Ino felt herself get irritated. A part of her knew who it was already. She wasn't completely sure why it bothered her so much. "How many times have you and Shikamaru fucked?" She asked airly and Hidan sighed again.

"More than once." He answered after a minute of silence. Ino felt like she was burning but swallowed thickly and nodded. 

"How long has it been going on?" She asked and Hidan gave her a side eye.

"You getting intel to tell Dei?" He asked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"So what if I am?" She said, irritated but then took a second and shook her head. "No. I wouldn't tell him. He would pitch a fit. He should just dump you." Hidan sat up quickly and his expression wasn't a pleased one.

"Hey, fuck you, blondie. I didn't do a damn thing wrong. I did what he told me. Never once have I treated Dei wrongly. I've always given him the attention he wants. I do everything for him!" Ino couldn't doubt that. Hidan did a lot for Deidara. Still, if they had a disagreement like this, it wouldn't be healthy to continue the relationship. 

"Why is sex so important? Why don't you just jack off like a normal guy in a relationship." Ino asked and Hidan glared at her.

"Don't start this conversation, Ino. You know things about me but you don't know me." Hidan warned and Ino scoffed which only seemed to irritate Hidan further. "Fuck you."

"Hidan, just tell me your sad backstory and get on with it." Hidan clenched his teeth and looked away, Ino was curious to see he actually looked embarrassed. It was an expression she never saw before. "What?"

"No. Every time I tell someone they don't fuckin believe me and I just look like an asshole." That only made her more curious. She stared at him, waiting. "You can't fuckin be a dick if I tell you and act like I'm making shit up."

"Fine." She agreed and he sighed and sat up and scratched his head. To his credit, he did seem uncomfortable with the topic, so he clearly wasn't setting this up to lie.

"I'm a sex addict." He said simply. He didn't look at her, he looked away from her. "It sounds dumb but it's true and it's embarrassing and sometimes I can't fucking think straight and it's fuckin difficult. Everyone just says I'm making shit up but like I can't fuckin focus sometimes. And people are just like 'you're a dude it's just what you do' but they don't fuckin get it. They don't know what it's like and it's just frustrating. Can I jack off like everyone else? Yeah. Probably way more than I should and it doesn't help. It's hard to control myself and I love Deidara so goddamn much. I'm trying so hard to make this work but it's so hard." Once he started talking, the words just came out like vomit. He couldn't stop and it was cathartic to talk about as much as it made him feel worthless. "If I didn't have Shik' I don't know what I would do. I was going out of my damn mind and I just threw up all the time, it was hard to handle the urge and not do it. I want to fuck Dei so bad and I know that if I do, I'm not gonna be gentle no matter how hard I try so he should be scared. Sometimes I have to leave the room so I don't do something I'll regret. And you better not make fun of me for this shit, I'm super fucking serious."

"Hidan, I'm not going to make fun of you." Ino said softly. No part of Hidan's tone indicated he was making it up and he really did look distressed about it. "I am slightly offended you didn't try to sleep with me though." She joked with a small smirk. Hidan let out a breathy laugh and turned to face her. His eyes shone, he wasn't exactly crying, but he looked close. 

"You vain bitch." He said fondly and rubbed her hair and she glared at him for messing up her hair. "And just because I didn't try, doesn't mean I don't want to fuck your brains out." Ino's face turned bright red and Hidan laughed, heartier this time and she shoved him.

"You can't say that to me! You're my best friend's boyfriend!" She scolded and he sobered up and looked towards where he saw Deidara last.

"He's gonna dump me. He should. I dunno how I kept him this long." Hidan said and laid back down on the ground. Ino raised her eyebrow, her face turning red.

"Uh... Hidan..." He looked down and saw he had a tent in his pants and sighed, letting his head fall back down. 

"Ino you might want to leave me alone now." He said and bit his thumb, hard. It didn't do anything to help. "Fuck, this is the last thing I need with Dei angry at me."

"I'll talk to Dee. Don't worry." Ino said and stood up. "Hey I have a question." He looked up at her curiously. "Shikamaru... is he any good?" He smirked up at her.

"You didn't hear it from me but Shik'... he let's me do whatever I want to him." The wicked smile had Ino blush and she ducked her head and walked back to the barn.

"What did he say?" Gaara asked and Ino walked right passed him to the table and shook Shikamaru violently. He woke up with a groan and opened his eyes and looked up pathetically at Ino.

"Wha..." He asked tiredly and rubbed his face.

"Hidan needs you." She said and her eyes flickered down, looking at his lap and back to his face. He must still be tired because he didn't show any response. He simply nodded and stood up and put his hands in his pockets. "He's over there." He gave a half assed wave before pocketing his hand again and trudging over to where Hidan was. 

"What was that about?" Gaara asked and Ino sighed and shook her head. She wasn't even sure what she was doing anymore. 

"Nothing. I gotta talk down Deidara now." She said and Gaara just shook his head. This party was more drama than it was worth.

***

"Hey..." Guy said softly to Kakashi. They were all on the bus taking them back from the barn area to the hotel where everyone was parked and where most of them were spending the night. 

"Yeah?" Kakashi asked softly, looking up at Guy, leaning his head on Guy's shoulder.

"We got married again." Guy said and Kakashi smiled. It wasn't exactly what they did, but he was right in a way. He nodded. "I got to marry you twice. How lucky am I?"

"Oh so very lucky." Kakashi smiled and leaned up to kiss Guy. "Since we're married, are you gonna take my virtue tonight?" Guy smirked but then it was replaced with a frown. "Too tired?" A nod. "Yeah, me too. We can do it tomorrow."

"Hey look, you've found our sex life's motto. Put that on repeat for 20 more years." Kakashi chuckled and Guy kissed him a second time. "If you mean it, I want it in writing."

"I'll tattoo it on your ass." Kakashi promised and Guy laughed and held Kakashi closer to his side. "Let's just stop somewhere. I heard Kankuro was apprenticing to be a tattoo artist, maybe he can do it for us."

"Family discount?" Guy asked and Kakashi shrugged and turned around to find Kankuro but he was passed out, leaning on Temari and snoring.

"We can ask him tomorrow." Kakashi decided.

"Probably for the best."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahahahahah okay so I like to RP a lot (hit me up if you wanna RP on tumblr. I'm all about that life) so that's where Hidan got his personality. From my RP with my lovely Nooj <3 
> 
> 1) I love Deidara and Hidan together but I don't like that once people get together in fanfics, they rarely break up and have problems, as I see that's not realistic and this story is about being realistic(to a point) so how did you feel about their cluster fuck of a relationship? Do you think they're gonna stay together?  
> 2) Is there anything you wanna see at Gaara's graduation? (that will be the next chapter)  
> 3) We're gonna have two of my other babies join the story soon. Care to guess who they are? *looks at Leah*  
> 4) Who's relationship do you want to see developed more?
> 
> Thank you everyone I love you!

**Author's Note:**

> Send in prompts!


End file.
